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This blong entry will contain old ideas about my most recent epic, Tapestry of Evil, which has just had the epilogue posted recently. Here I will detail as many abandoned ideas, concepts, and plot ideas that I had for ToE but were ultimately scrapped in the final draft.
If you want to read the one I did for my first epic, The Tales of Shika Nui, please click here: Link.
Also, please note that this will contain major spoilers for ToE and if you haven't read it yet I suggest not to read this blog entry, for it will spoil many crucial plot points and also possibly the ending as well. Read at your own risk:
-Originally, the Toa Shika were supposed to stage a raid on Castle Kra to save Nastan (forgot how they knew he was there in the first place) but would have been too late, for Nastan would have already been taken by Jero to the Place of Lightlessness where he would have been transformed into a Toa of Shadow and then clashed with the other Toa Shika on the side of the Shodios many times during the story itself
-Nastan's transformation back to normal was also changed in the final draft. I originally planned for Nastan to be turned back to normal by Nonzra during the final battle, who would have hit him with a sonic blast that would have destroyed the mental barrier keeping light from returning to Nastan, similar to what the klakk did to the Shadow Matoran and Takanuva in 2008. But I scrapped the idea because I felt that Nonzra probably wouldn't know how to do that, even accidentally, and it would just too Deus Ex Machina (IMO) for Nastan to be turned back to normal right at the end like that.
-Wanderer probably went through more changes than any other character in this epic. Wanderer was originally male and not as sarcastic as I wrote her. She was much more reserved and mysterious, but when I rewrote ToE after the Dataclysm I just couldn't write her that way anymore. So I changed her to a female and her new personality emerged, which was a lot more fun to write than the previous one.
-Wanderer was pretty much always going to be the one to turn Nastan back to normal after I scrapped the idea of Nonzra doing it. However, in the first draft her appearance was much more abrupt and too Deus Ex Machina-ish for my liking. So I introduced her a few chapters earlier in the final draft so that she wouldn't come across as a huge Deus Ex Machina to my readers. In short, Wanderer was going to be pretty much a plot device than a character, something that would have been disrespectful to her as a character, which is probably the main reason I changed her.
-Teivel's ability to come back from the dead was something I added in the final draft because . . . well, I'm not sure why I added it, but he originally did not have it and was supposed to die when the Nui Mountains erupted. I suppose it was just something that happened as I wrote it, since I don't outline and let things naturally (and logically) develop as the story progresses.
-Teivel himself was also supposed to be different. Instead of actually being a Graalo, I was going to reveal that he was a Great Being trapped inside the body of a Toa. An evil Great Being of darkness, that is. However I abandoned the idea because 1) it doesn't make sense, and 2) I don't know how or why Mata Nui would put the spirit of a Great Being inside Teivel. It sounds cool at first, but when you think about it, it really doesn't make a lick of sense no matter what explanation you give it.
-Teivel's death scene was something I changed during the editing process. Originally he was just supposed to abruptly die when he realized that since his body hadn't been destroyed he could not come back to life and that was that. I changed it because I felt the abrupt death didn't fit Teivel's character. It would make much more sense for his soul to try to make it past The Door, I reasoned, rather than simply give up like that, so I changed it. I like this better than the previous version, personally.
-I admit I handled the whole Graalo thing rather sloppishly in my opinion. When I first wrote the scene where the mysterious cloaked figure in Barilo's dream showed him the Graalo and told him that "the Graalo is closer than you think" I was not thinking of Teivel when I wrote it and only when I reached the final battle did I actually remember the line and decide Teivel was the Graalo (literally, in this case). If there's one thing I could have gone back and change it would be that, make it less literal and more symbolic.
-Originally, the fight at The Door to the Light was supposed to be the Toa Shika VS the Shodios and nothing more. However, when I was rewriting ToE I realized that the Shodios probably learned not to underestimate their opponents by now and would have brough along more allies. So I decided to make them bring along a lot of Matoran and Turaga Krashadi himself, too, which makes a lot more sense once you think about it. Plus also subverts villain stupidity, too.
-Initially I never knew why the Shodios allowed Krashadi to rule Wyoko when they themselves were so much stronger than them. So I gave him the ability to become a giant ball of shadow that destroyed everything in its path, which would be enough to convince the Shodios not to question his rule. I can't say why in-story Krashadi has the ability and don't know if I will ever address it, though it's possible he learned it on his own, or was given it by Mata Nui for an unknown reason.
-Though never explicitly stated in the fic itself, besides Tikcah being in love with Teivel, I have always thought that Rhatara and Ira might like each other as well, though I doubt their feelings for each other were on the same level as the feelings Tikcah felt for Teivel, which explained why there was never much hints between them in-story.
-The Shodios' shadow travel ability was something that I also wished I could have handled better, for I think I added in without thinking too much about it. One question I don't think the story answered was, "If the Shodios could travel by shadow, why didn't they use it to escape Wyoko?" I never thought about it and none of the Shodios ever attempted it, so it kind of left a plot hole big enough to stick your foot into.
-The whole "Door being charged with light" thing was something I added during the editing process to prevent Teivel from escaping. On retrospect I think this was a bad idea because it caused me to unnaturally change the story to suit my needs and not its own. I should have let Teivel escape, which would have opened another plotline entirely for the next epic, An Unlikely Alliance.
The main reason I posted this was to give my readers an idea on how the story changes from its earliest beginnings to the final product. I myself always enjoy reading WCHB ("what could have beens") because they almost always give insights to the writing process and sometimes make the actual story itself more rewarding and interesting to read or watch, in the case of TV and movies.
After I post AUA, I will probably do one for it, too, since there are already plenty of "what could have beens" for that epic even though I haven't posted it yet.
-TNTOS-
If you want to read the one I did for my first epic, The Tales of Shika Nui, please click here: Link.
Also, please note that this will contain major spoilers for ToE and if you haven't read it yet I suggest not to read this blog entry, for it will spoil many crucial plot points and also possibly the ending as well. Read at your own risk:
-Originally, the Toa Shika were supposed to stage a raid on Castle Kra to save Nastan (forgot how they knew he was there in the first place) but would have been too late, for Nastan would have already been taken by Jero to the Place of Lightlessness where he would have been transformed into a Toa of Shadow and then clashed with the other Toa Shika on the side of the Shodios many times during the story itself
-Nastan's transformation back to normal was also changed in the final draft. I originally planned for Nastan to be turned back to normal by Nonzra during the final battle, who would have hit him with a sonic blast that would have destroyed the mental barrier keeping light from returning to Nastan, similar to what the klakk did to the Shadow Matoran and Takanuva in 2008. But I scrapped the idea because I felt that Nonzra probably wouldn't know how to do that, even accidentally, and it would just too Deus Ex Machina (IMO) for Nastan to be turned back to normal right at the end like that.
-Wanderer probably went through more changes than any other character in this epic. Wanderer was originally male and not as sarcastic as I wrote her. She was much more reserved and mysterious, but when I rewrote ToE after the Dataclysm I just couldn't write her that way anymore. So I changed her to a female and her new personality emerged, which was a lot more fun to write than the previous one.
-Wanderer was pretty much always going to be the one to turn Nastan back to normal after I scrapped the idea of Nonzra doing it. However, in the first draft her appearance was much more abrupt and too Deus Ex Machina-ish for my liking. So I introduced her a few chapters earlier in the final draft so that she wouldn't come across as a huge Deus Ex Machina to my readers. In short, Wanderer was going to be pretty much a plot device than a character, something that would have been disrespectful to her as a character, which is probably the main reason I changed her.
-Teivel's ability to come back from the dead was something I added in the final draft because . . . well, I'm not sure why I added it, but he originally did not have it and was supposed to die when the Nui Mountains erupted. I suppose it was just something that happened as I wrote it, since I don't outline and let things naturally (and logically) develop as the story progresses.
-Teivel himself was also supposed to be different. Instead of actually being a Graalo, I was going to reveal that he was a Great Being trapped inside the body of a Toa. An evil Great Being of darkness, that is. However I abandoned the idea because 1) it doesn't make sense, and 2) I don't know how or why Mata Nui would put the spirit of a Great Being inside Teivel. It sounds cool at first, but when you think about it, it really doesn't make a lick of sense no matter what explanation you give it.
-Teivel's death scene was something I changed during the editing process. Originally he was just supposed to abruptly die when he realized that since his body hadn't been destroyed he could not come back to life and that was that. I changed it because I felt the abrupt death didn't fit Teivel's character. It would make much more sense for his soul to try to make it past The Door, I reasoned, rather than simply give up like that, so I changed it. I like this better than the previous version, personally.
-I admit I handled the whole Graalo thing rather sloppishly in my opinion. When I first wrote the scene where the mysterious cloaked figure in Barilo's dream showed him the Graalo and told him that "the Graalo is closer than you think" I was not thinking of Teivel when I wrote it and only when I reached the final battle did I actually remember the line and decide Teivel was the Graalo (literally, in this case). If there's one thing I could have gone back and change it would be that, make it less literal and more symbolic.
-Originally, the fight at The Door to the Light was supposed to be the Toa Shika VS the Shodios and nothing more. However, when I was rewriting ToE I realized that the Shodios probably learned not to underestimate their opponents by now and would have brough along more allies. So I decided to make them bring along a lot of Matoran and Turaga Krashadi himself, too, which makes a lot more sense once you think about it. Plus also subverts villain stupidity, too.
-Initially I never knew why the Shodios allowed Krashadi to rule Wyoko when they themselves were so much stronger than them. So I gave him the ability to become a giant ball of shadow that destroyed everything in its path, which would be enough to convince the Shodios not to question his rule. I can't say why in-story Krashadi has the ability and don't know if I will ever address it, though it's possible he learned it on his own, or was given it by Mata Nui for an unknown reason.
-Though never explicitly stated in the fic itself, besides Tikcah being in love with Teivel, I have always thought that Rhatara and Ira might like each other as well, though I doubt their feelings for each other were on the same level as the feelings Tikcah felt for Teivel, which explained why there was never much hints between them in-story.
-The Shodios' shadow travel ability was something that I also wished I could have handled better, for I think I added in without thinking too much about it. One question I don't think the story answered was, "If the Shodios could travel by shadow, why didn't they use it to escape Wyoko?" I never thought about it and none of the Shodios ever attempted it, so it kind of left a plot hole big enough to stick your foot into.
-The whole "Door being charged with light" thing was something I added during the editing process to prevent Teivel from escaping. On retrospect I think this was a bad idea because it caused me to unnaturally change the story to suit my needs and not its own. I should have let Teivel escape, which would have opened another plotline entirely for the next epic, An Unlikely Alliance.
The main reason I posted this was to give my readers an idea on how the story changes from its earliest beginnings to the final product. I myself always enjoy reading WCHB ("what could have beens") because they almost always give insights to the writing process and sometimes make the actual story itself more rewarding and interesting to read or watch, in the case of TV and movies.
After I post AUA, I will probably do one for it, too, since there are already plenty of "what could have beens" for that epic even though I haven't posted it yet.
-TNTOS-
