Episode 14.5 Side Quest: Inner Circle and fan casts

This week's side quest episode is talking about the inner circle and their relationships and story arcs, as well as some fun fan casts.  Who did you see as the inner circle??  

All characters discussed in this podcast are owned by Sarah J Maas and Bloomsbury Publishing.  The music used in this podcast, Enchanted Fantasy - Long Singer by Sonican, is part of pixabay royalty free music.

https://pixabay.com/music/main-title-enchanted-fantasy-long-stinger-377726/ 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey guys, welcome to the second side quest episode of the Massive Encyclopedia, where we talk about a couple things we couldn't get into in this week's main episode. This side quest is going to focus on the inner circle and some fan casts. A what? Rev, why don't you get us started on the fan cast for Amarantha and Ianthe before we get into the inner circle? For sure.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

So my choice for Ianthe is Scarjo Scarlett Johansson, as some of you may know her, with short hair. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

Do you see that? I do see it. And I feel like she has that, I feel like she has the range for it.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

I have been more focused on her look, and I feel like her angled chin, this hairstyle, even though in the book she may have longer hair, her face in this picture is very much like I could wear a diagonal, whatever it's called. Yeah. And have like a little blue stone and have it be all in silver. And that blue stone matches Scarjo's blue eyes and like just her blushy cheeks. And she's just as friendly as one could get, and like have that face of a girl who is a snake in the grass, just like I am the like Scarjo would play her perfectly.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

Who's yours? I love it. So I have two because I like everything in even numbers. Uh my first one is friends. Everything. Everything is in even numbers. I've got two cats. First one is Dove Cameron. Oh, yes. I feel like she's beautiful, but she's also can kind of have that little bit of wickedness to her. And then we used Freya Allen for some for one of the sisters last season, but I feel like she could very well be a Ianthe.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

Freya Allen from The Witcher? Actually, both of them are already wearing like light blue colored clothing. Yes. I love that. Yes. Okay. Now are we going to Amarantha? Yes. My Amarantha, I think, is classic that everyone would pick for Amarantha. And that is just because Chastain. But like darker red lipstick and like darker clothing. That is that villainous B. I won't say the word.

SPEAKER_00 2:36

I can see it. So I chose either Sophie Turner from Game of Thrones, Sansa Stark, or Sadie Sink. And I chose this picture in particular because she's wearing that dark lipstick and her hair is really. Yeah. If she was wearing a black dress, this would be Amarantha. She's got the dark red hair. Oh my god, I love your pics so far. They're so good. Yeah. Okay. Um, so now let's move on to the inner circle and do like a deep dive on everybody, starting with more. Who is your character? Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

So this is gonna be super controversial.

SPEAKER_00 3:20

It is. I'm already cheating and looking very great. Do you see it in this economy?

SPEAKER_01 3:26

In this world. It's Blake Lively with this blonde hair in the world. But here's the thing, she'd be a great.

SPEAKER_00 3:34

She would be a great more.

SPEAKER_01 3:35

She would be a great more. But I don't care. This is the girl that come and saves me from the spring court. This is her. This is that powerful girl.

SPEAKER_00 3:47

This is the confidence. So I have actually not seen this actress, but I wanted to kind of look at some Turkish, Greek, Egyptian actors for these because the night court is supposed to be more Turkish and Eastern. So this actress's name is. I'm gonna, I hope I don't butcher it. Zita Makropulia. She's beautiful. She's beautiful. Wow. Put her in a red dress. She's more. Wow. She's stunning. That's beautiful. Yeah. Stunning. And yeah. This woman walks into a room and everyone turns. And she could save me from a mountain. Like she also has that confidence. Like she looks like she could stand up and walk into any fight. She stares at a camera and is like, bring it. She looks through the camera. Yeah. And then I I lied. I said I had two for each. I said either Dakota or L fanning. Those fanning girls can do anything. And I feel like Elle has a little bit too much of a baby face, but at the same time, the picture I chose, like she's looking straight through that camera. Oh, and she's wearing red. And she's wearing red, and she's super tall. And I don't know why. I always get the idea that more is like 5'11, 6'0. I always get the feeling that she's like.

SPEAKER_01 5:15

I always get the impression that she's so tall, too.

SPEAKER_00 5:17

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So let's talk a little bit about more. One of the things I want to talk about is her lineage. We know that she's coming from a major one of the top families in the Hewn City or the Court of Nightmares. And we know that she is her story kind of mirrors Reese's mother's story, where people were waiting for her to basically become a woman, start menstruating. And she did everything she could to not go through that. And then when she did, they realized how powerful she was. And instead of being scared, they saw her as I can breed her and have a strong son. So she has a lot of similarities with Reese's mom, but also that is what she has walked away from.

SPEAKER_01 6:08

The way I see more is such a powerful character that no one ever knows her power, but she sees Fayra and she's like, I wanted to dress up for you. And that is like a throwback to our last episode. But she needs a bestie in the same way that Farah needs a bestie. And she's like, You are powerful, you are gonna be targeted. I know what this feels like, and no one else that I know feels like this. Like Cass as Reese, they're all males, they cannot even fathom what it's like to be a female. But Fayra is a person who is like, I feel vulnerable and I'm really powerful at the same time. And I think that's where more is coming from. She sees Farah as this person. I see something of myself in you, and I just want you to know you are not alone, and you think you're alone right now, but like I've done this before, but I've never had a person I could share this with. I can't share this with any of these guys. I can't share it with Amran. I've had no one to share it with, and you have a vulnerability that I had, and I can share this with you.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

I think for more, 178 is the big page for her. That's when she says to Fayra, one, you left the Spring Court. I think it's so important that she is the one because she was there when Fayra left, slash was saved. But sh it's not you were taken from the Spring Court, it's not you were freed from the sit from the Spring Court. It is you left. And it is so important that someone says that to her and Moore is the one who does it. But then also she says, like you've been saying, I once lived in a place where the opinion of others mattered. It suffocated me, nearly broke me. Does that sound familiar? Does that sound like the beginning of this book? So you'll understand me when I say I know what you feel, and I know what they tried to do to you, and that with enough courage, you can say hell with a reputation. You do what you love, what you need. She's almost this quasi best friend, mother. She is this support person that is on Phayrah's side for Phayra, rather than even Reese being like, She's my mate, she's got this bond. I can use her powers. What Moore sees is another woman that was in a bad place and she was able to help, and she is a strong and she will die for Phayra. She will do whatever it takes for her.

SPEAKER_01 9:04

What comes before is on page 164, and it just like backs up what you're saying. Moore's rank is higher than that of the two warriors at this table. Then there had to be some other reason beyond that irreverent charm. It's not just her charm, it's her power. And I think that's what people underestimate because we have no idea what she's gonna bring to the table. And I think that same thing is the expectation of the other courts of Phayra. Like, no one knows what Phaera is gonna bring, and so they have this commonality that makes them both so much more powerful than anyone knows, but also feeling like vulnerable. Even Amran cannot make the same comparisons to herself and what like more and Fayra feel like. And like, I think Fayra's the closest thing to Moore that Moore has ever found.

SPEAKER_00 10:13

I think you're right. Moore for a while, we assume, was underestimated, right? She was looked down on because of her sex. They weren't looking at her power, they weren't looking at her intelligence, they weren't looking at anything. What the people under the mountain saw and still see is a woman. Whereas Fahrra is very similar. What Tamlin sees is a woman that needs protecting, who needs to be repunzeled and thrown into the tower. It's these are the two most feared people that come through this book. And I we've said it at least once an episode. I can't wait for more of her powers. I want to see the next part of Moore's powers. Yes, I want to see more of what more can do because we get a little bit of it kind of breadcrumbs, and we see a little bit of it in this book when she I think it's this book, when she eventually gets sees the six queens and they show Valaris, but I want to see her unleash her powers.

SPEAKER_01 11:26

Moore unleashing her powers is gonna be last book. I don't I I don't think we're gonna see Amran's powers I don't until last book.

SPEAKER_00 11:37

Wait, don't we see more Amran's powers?

SPEAKER_01 11:41

Uh we see her like what goes face and kind of die and then like come back and like she destroys a bunch of people we see something of her powers in this series. And she like chooses to come back as Amarin when I I kind of feel like the spell is broken. I don't really remember. We'll get there. It's book five anything. Or book three.

SPEAKER_00 12:03

We'll we'll get there. Uh okay. Anything else on more that we wanted to talk about?

SPEAKER_01 12:09

Um, other than her commanding a red dress, she just walks in and she owns everything she owns. Agree. Agreed. Okay. Who are we moving on to next? So who were your who was your Cassian? Cassian. With the long hair and like the jovial personality and the kind of flirty, not caring aspect of Cassian has always been a young Jason Momoa.

SPEAKER_00 12:44

Here for it. He was one of mine. Jason Momo's Yeah. Jason Momoa is one of mine, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 12:51

This is the only one where I have two. A person no one knows. We know her affectionately as Cozy. Cozy suggested. Do you remember this when we were eating to dinner? When she said Travis Kelsey, and I was like, ah, yeah, do you know what? I he's big.

SPEAKER_00 13:12

He could fight. And he's like, he's fun. He's he wants to go for a drink at Rita's.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

The biggest, most BA guy, where he's like, bring it, bring it, bring it, I'll take it all. And he would uh throw his jacket down for a girl to not step in a puddle, uh are Cassian. Both of those guys are Cassian.

SPEAKER_00 13:39

Uh so my second one is an act is a Turkish actor. Well, I've seen him all over Instagram, so this is not me. But his name's Ken Yaman, I think that's how you pronounce it. He's very attractive. Sir. He could lead an army.

SPEAKER_01 13:59

Oh, sir, don't do that.

SPEAKER_00 14:01

And he could also tell you to hold on to a headboard. This man. That hair, the arms, he's got the tattoo. Oh my god. I'm fine. I'm doing fine right now. We'll sleep great. Like he's great. He's he's great. Uh, so let's talk Cassian. Wow. So I'll start then while you get yourself together. Yeah. So we know he has the red siphons. We know that he the siphons can turn all of their magic or their power into a weapon. And he's a trainer. He's the general of all of Reese's armies. He's also a bastard, and the first one that um Reese's mom encouraged to come in with them taught him how to read. So like he's educated, and also we learn later what he does for more is really a controversial act, but it it saves her, right? Like it changes.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

On top of all that, she picks the guy that is the deadliest Illyrian warrior that anyone has ever seen, including Reese, that he thinks, like me and Cassian, yeah, Cassian would probably win. I mean, I'd give him a fight, but uh I think I think Cassian would win. Cassian brings a presence that is friendly, jovial, honest.

SPEAKER_00 15:53

He's not ashamed of where he's coming from. And like on 166, when Fayra mistakenly calls him Lord Cassian, because he laughs whenever he gets. Yeah, like at the Spring Court, he would be Lord Cassian, but here he's just Cassian. And he's he's just a guy, right? Like it's but he's so honest to who he is, and he's there for a good time, but he's also there to be to do his job, to be Reese's second, I not second, but like to be Reese's protector, fourth. But like I think I think we find out later, and we'll have to pay attention because I can't remember if it's Azrael or Cassian. I feel like it's actually Azrael, is the one who will taste the food, and he wasn't there under the mountain. That's why Reese drank the wine that was spelled. So these guys will die for their brother, much like he would die for them, but he knows he has to stay alive. But Cassian, he's he's just a great guy, and I can't wait to talk about him more when we talk about Silver Flame because we see so much more characterization from him, it's so good.

SPEAKER_01 17:21

He would ride or die for anyone in this group, and I mean he would ride or die for Amran all the way up to he's willing to ride or die for Phayra, and Fayra is brand new to the inner circle, to the family, but he would let's also talk about.

SPEAKER_00 17:44

I mean, this is jumping ahead, but when he meets Elaine and Nesta, these two humans, first of all, he's angry at how they treated Phayra, but also he treats them with so much respect. When we go to the Illyrian Mountains later on at the camps, we see the the sexism of the Illyrians and how they treat the females and also how they act towards Phaera and Nesta.

SPEAKER_01 18:16

Cassian does not And eventually how they how they act towards the Valkyries.

SPEAKER_00 18:21

Right, right. But Cassian and Azreel don't share that, but we actively see Cassian flipping that sexism on its head. I gotta tell you, he's just a great guy.

SPEAKER_01 18:34

He's just a really good guy. It's just aside from everything.

SPEAKER_00 18:39

He's also just I mean, sure, who hasn't killed thousands of people for their High Lord? I think my last thing on Cassian is he makes a point of saying, I don't have any magic because Ferraz says he does shadows. He doesn't need it. But like he she needs to hear that there's someone who's just a normal person in this French group, right? Like, he doesn't have magic.

SPEAKER_01 19:07

She does have magic, but she just needs to hear from someone who's like, hey, I know what it feels like to be hungry, and I know what it feels like to always feel you're not enough, that there's always more to learn, that you could always be better. I'm here as a resource, as like a social worker. What can I do to help you be better? He's also here as a resource to be like, what's up, girl? You want to train? All right, let's go. I'll I'll fight with you and I'll teach you how to fight better. We're ER nurses, right? Like, we see these girls all day, every day. We there's reasons why girls read these books. He's he's perfect.

SPEAKER_00 19:52

He's also the guy that literally at the first time he meets her, he says, Have you trained? Do you want to? Already he's willing to take her under his wing. He then says, It's I don't know how to train you. I've never trained a human, and I know you're not human, but I don't know how to do this, but we'll figure it out together. He is so accepting of her. Because he is already she can't even fly.

SPEAKER_01 20:19

And he's like, Okay, well, we'll just we'll we'll navigate this. Like, you know, right. Well, she doesn't have wings yet.

SPEAKER_00 20:27

But she but sh he's already accepted her because Reese accepts her and more accepts her, she's already part of the crew.

SPEAKER_01 20:38

He's kind of like that bro guy that you're like, why are you standing in front of the mirror? But also, if you were like, I want to be a bro guy standing in front of the mirror, he would be like, Hey, you know what? I'll be here, bro. Come here. This is where we're gonna start. And he would like help you get to the point where you could Instagram bro.

SPEAKER_00 20:59

Okay, let's move on to Azreel. Who has just guest starred on our podcast because he was just pushing up against the microphone. My cat, Azriel.

SPEAKER_01 21:18

Matthew DiDario.

SPEAKER_00 21:20

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 21:22

Isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 21:22

I think you have the exact same picture. I have a different picture, but it is the same actor.

SPEAKER_01 21:29

So good.

SPEAKER_00 21:31

I added. I promise I will be calmer because I will be I will be cool. Uh so my other one is a Spanish actor named Alvaro Rico. Although looking at him, he could also be a Resand or a Dorian. Both you and Dario. A hundred percent.

SPEAKER_01 21:53

Okay, let's just start. Azrael, his gauntlets across his body, his siphons. are blue. Azrael's blue siphons, along with Cassian's red siphons, uh, she's like supposed to she is in favor of trust these guys with her life and yet literally each of them have these colors that she can't cope with. But she don't think she's trusting them and it takes a while.

SPEAKER_00 22:27

But she ends up trusting them with their with her life. But I don't think it sh I don't think she ever thinks about the colors of their siphons. I don't think that's ever really addressed in the book.

SPEAKER_01 22:39

I don't think that there's somewhere in her mind that if the very two specific colors that she can't be effed with are the exact same two colors of the siphons like it it is meaningful.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

But also when we are talking one of the names for Cassian is the Lord of bloodshed blood is red. All the time she thinks about Azrael it's this icy coldness what is icy coldness blue these colors just seem to either reflect or are reflected upon their personalities and their responsibilities like on page 158 he is called the knife in the dark he is a cool blooded killer and he's the spy master he has to stay cool cool under pressure he can't be he can't be Cassian and just going off he has to stay in the shadows he has to keep his emotions locked in he can't let what he's feeling come out.

SPEAKER_01 23:46

Well I think also the fact that he has shadow powers helps him be more cold and cool than like Cassian should ever be because I mean we know Azreel straight face Cassian grinning and giggling at whatever joke he just made but Azreel has these shadow powers that allow him a little bit of freedom to escape from what people might see.

SPEAKER_00 24:20

I think he's also lived a very hard life so has Reese so has Cassian but Azreel was locked up for 23 hours a day in his childhood his hands were burned because he was lit a fire by his brothers his mother was killed he has not had a easy life. None of them have but Cassian gives the impression of someone who enjoyed fighting. He really he knew he was going to win it was not a challenge. And I think Azreel I what I want to pay attention to is those shadows because Fayra at times thinks that the shadows are listening and talking to him and that's I want to pay attention yeah pay attention to how those shadows react because if I recall in Silver Flames when he meets Gwen the shadows are not scared of her light magic and they actually come out and dance when she sings like these are big character things because it's almost like his character is being shown by his shadows.

SPEAKER_01 25:39

There are two different times that I think his shadows or something else are able to read minds or like pick up on what other people are doing. One of them she is like paying attention to his siphons and it's said that he's noticing her pay attention to his siphons and he looks up and he's like these are siphons and he like kind of explains him but there's another time where it looks like he's actually reading her mind page 160 um it was almost enough to distract me from noticing Azreel as those shadows lightened blah blah blah blah blah a wisp of shadow curled around Azreel's ear and his eyes snapped to mine. Like he immediately looks over it's like his shadows are looking at her eyes and her actions or his shadows are reading her mind for him or he's reading her mind twice on 160 and then the other one was what 165 I think Azreel is reading people's mind like this is why he is the spy master it's not just his shadows he has so many more powers than we know that he has sure I agree I'm excited for when we eventually get his book to get to see what this is to see what his powers are.

SPEAKER_00 27:26

Okay let's move on to Amran. You go for your Amran uh right there Aquafina that's Amran.

SPEAKER_01 27:35

I said Aquafina as well you did yeah I have two the other is Edna Mode from the Invincibles or the incredibles but if I can't choose an animated character it's Aquafina 100% well because she just has that like haircut I there's also the actress there's the actress that looks like the girl from the incredibles and I think she played in um CSI LA sunroom she did yes she would have been a great Amran. But yes I agree Aquafina coming in and just tossing in that uh amulet and being like here you're gonna be fine get over it like that is the face that says that to Sarah I think my thing with Amran is there is so much we don't know.

SPEAKER_00 28:31

She is she is very hard lines I will not go back to the prison. She is so powerful but she is not going back to the prison. And later on when she gets the big ruby from Tarquin she uses it as a paperweight. Reese buys her jewels she's in another episode we talk about how Reese describes her almost like a dragon with her loot.

SPEAKER_01 28:55

She loves fire drags yeah yeah yeah yeah what I want to know is there are so many folklore tales of people needing gems to like pass through time to pass through worlds like is she amounting all of these gems so that she can get back to the being that she was and I know where we end up at the end of at the end of episode five but is is that her goal now right or is she looking for the jewel that will act as the key that's a really great point.

SPEAKER_00 29:37

One thing I forgot to mention when we were talking about Azrael is on 168 we find out that he's the son of a lord he's the bastard son of a lord so that does give him some hierarchy in the society.

SPEAKER_01 29:50

I don't know where it lies but anyways back to I mean in the Illyrians it matters not right in all of uh the hierarchy of Prithian it should matter some and oh I don't think so because he's an Illyrian the uh Hyphae don't care about them I mean but they care about Reese and he's half Illyrian but he's a High Lord some amount of respect is showed to Azreel maybe because he's a High Lord maybe because of his abilities but like Azreel gets more respect than like Cassian ever would I think part of that is because of his shadow singer I don't think it's because he's a the son of a High Lord I just wanted to note it but anyways there's just so much about Amran that we don't know. What is her obsession with the trinkets and the jewels that's gotta mean something. It can't just be like this cute quirky character arc like oh she just likes jewels like there is something there and I think we're gonna there has to be of why yeah anything else we want to say on the inner circle no I think I'm good. I'm happy we did the side quest though because I really really wanted to dig into let's talk about our characters. So me for doing this with me.

SPEAKER_00 31:28

Always so next week we're going to be talking about chapters 22 through 28 of Acamath and can't wait to see you guys there and hear what you guys think. Bye