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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pukunui" data-source="post: 9786029" data-attributes="member: 54629">I get that you want to see the characters exactly as you remember them. That’s nostalgia for you.The thing is, no new adaptation can ever be the same as the version in our heads anyway. Casting, budget, writing style: something will always differ. So if it’s going to be different no matter what, why not let the differences reflect the world we live in now? That way new fans can see themselves in the story, and your version still lives untouched in the books / in your head.Elmore's art itself is an interpretation.Let's ignore the art for now and go by what Weis and Hickman actually wrote. (I'm restricting myself to the main characters.)<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Tika is a tall 19-year-old girl with curly red hair, green eyes that "dance with fun" and freckles lightly smattering her nose and cheeks.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Flint is an ancient dwarf with "old dwarven bones" and “thick, overhanging white eyebrows”. (That's the extent of his physical description within the first few chapters!)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Tanis walks with elvish grace, but his body has "the thickness and tight muscles of a human". He has "tanned skin" and a "brownish-red beard". He wears soft leather "carefully tooled in the intricate designs the elves loved" with a green hood.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Tas is a slight, small-boned fellow with a "perpetually childlike face". He is about the same height as Flint (whatever that is). He wears "bright blue leggings", a fleecy fur vest, and a "plain, home-spun tunic". He has brown eyes, pointy ears, and his signature tassle of long brown hair.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Caramon is a "big warrior" with a brightly polished, winged dragon helm. He is 6 feet tall, and his chest is "twice as big around" as Riverwind's, while his arms are "three times as big" as Riverwind's.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Raistlin had white skin and blue eyes, but these have both turned golden, and his pupils are shaped like hourglasses. He's lost weight, causing his face to look like "a gruesome mask" with "cheekbones outlined in dreadful shadows". He has long, nervous, claw-like hands with a cold touch, and his voice is soft, wheezing, and barely above a whisper.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Sturm is a "straight-backed" man wearing antiquated armor. He has "great, thick moustaches" that are "as long and sweeping as ever". His eyes are first described as calm and cold, then sad, then "just as warm when he saw his friends". He has brown hair streaked with more gray than Tanis remembers.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Riverwind is "heavily cloaked in furs" in the style of the Que-shu tribe of Plains barbarians. Riverwind is "the tallest man" Tanis has ever seen, taller even than Caramon, who would come only to Riverwind's shoulder. Riverwind is "dark-skinned" with a "pale cast" from illness or great suffering.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Goldmoon has a "fur-trimmed cape and hood". Her face is like a marble statue - "classic, pure, cold". Unlike other Plainsmen, who are "usually dark-haired and dark-skinned", Goldmoon has "silver-gold hair" that "no jeweler spinning molten strands of silver and gold could have created". She is later described as a "beautiful barbarian".</li> </ul>And that's it for the first few chapters! Flint gets the least amount of description, and Raistlin gets the most ... until we meet Laurana much later:Laurana's appearance makes Caramon's mouth sag open and Riverwind's eyes widen. Even Raistlin stares because he finally sees beauty. Her hair is "honey pouring from a pitcher" and reaches below her waist. Her skin is "smooth and woodland brown". She has the "delicate, refined features of the elves" but also has the obligatory "full, pouting lips" and large anime eyes that change color "like leaves in flickering sunshine". Sturm swears, on his honor, that he's never seen a woman "so lovely" before. Tika, meanwhile, feels "dumpy and half-dressed" and adjusts her clothing to hide her "full bosom". Tas proclaims that she "walks like a tree bending in the wind". Laurana's voice is like a "clear stream rippling among the trees". She moves with "childlike grace", with everyone looking at her admiringly.Don't get me wrong, Laurana is my favorite DL character ... but man, that's quite the intro!And I dare say a fair few of those descriptions do not match what Elmore painted. (He certainly never painted Laurana as having "woodland brown" skin!)Heck, Star Trek's been doing it since the 60s!</blockquote>

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