#ilyn sisyphus

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

I've just finished Heart of The World and it was delightful! Frank the vampire minion and that mystery of his missing boss forever going unanswered is truly a tragedy.

I've not looked at any Lily and Sisyphus stuff but gathered Ilyn originated from Snape at some point in the development process. I truly enjoyed the "They put him in charge of children!?" realisation, but what had you decide he was going to be notorious as a warlord primarily for blowing things up with fire? Ilyn's hilarious retrieval mission blowing up cars, setting a house on fire, abducting a child and then not commenting on the most convenient portal you've ever seen form works brilliantly naturally, but when did you know that was the direction you were going?

Your remarkably nuanced handling of the very fraught political tensions among factions was very cool to see. It ends up making you feel bad for essentially everyone in some capacity (maybe not Questburger, he seemed like he was doing quite well for himself).

The Heart of the World (by me!) @janedoewrites

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it so much! Really, this is very high praise indeed and I'm not only flattered but very glad to hear that I did what I set out to do successfully. (And yes, Questburger's done great for himself, at least so far.)

And that's a very interesting question.

So, Ilyn obviously started as a Snape counterpoint, same as Elizabeth is clearly what Hermione was, Theyn is clearly some mix of Dead Last and Neville, so on and so forth but he deviated in a large way very early/had that personality when he got introduced as a character in the first draft.

I don't think there was ever a draft where he hadn't set Lily's house on fire for no reason and was always this very taciturn/stoic/least talkative person you can ever find. @therealvinelle who helped with a lot of the editing maybe remembers better than I do but I think his characterization was set very early and the big surprise for me writing when it worked out and for her on editing is that he and Lily end the novel on very good terms.

I actually don't think characters changed that much in general between drafts. They changed a lot from the fic and in the outline for obvious reasons, the primary one being that they had different backgrounds now, different roles in the story, and that would inform who they were as people and how they best served the story but once they were decided on early in, they didn't change much in terms of personality. They've been very stable. The one who changed the most in a nitpicky manner was Lily herself who was made more... noble I suppose is the word for it in part of things happening or not happening to her in her youth, and being with the Tylors who are just absent versus the Dursleys who are present and awful. A lot of things about her and her lines changed between drafts and it took a bit to settle on just what her personality would be like with these changed circumstances and events.

But yeah, Ilyn's pretty much always been Ilyn, which is great because I love him and other people better like him because he's not going away any time soon.

[janedoewrites]

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[thecarnivorousmuffinart]

Ilyn from The Heart of the World, circa 2023

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

so I read The Heart of the World again today and now I'm super curious/interested in a couple things. 1. where did Ilyn's name come from? and 2. why did you pick the specific 7 elf clans that you did? I love the book, it's great, I'm really glad I own it!

The Heart of the World by me (@janedoewrites)

Again?! I'm so flattered. It's nice to know people are reading it not just once but more than once. High praise.

Now, onto your questions.

Where Did Ilyn's Name Come From?

Like almost all names in the book, I essentially drew it out of a hat. Or I went "uhhhhhhhhh that sounds good" and picked it. Since I never came up with anything that felt better, it stuck pretty early and there it stays.

Unlike some of the other elf clans, the sun elves don't really have a scheme (mainly in that I only had to come up with two names and one had specifications that were required for the plot to make sense which left me only one free option). So, it really was me sitting there and "I need a name, shit, this sounds good" and here we are.

Why the Specific Elf Clans?

This one's a little better in that there's at least some reasoning behind it.

I knew I wanted seven main branches because seven's a good bullshit fairy tale number. Three, the other good bullshit fairy tale number, was too few as I needed to cover the night elves, the sun elves, and the gold elves and I knew I wanted more than that/wanted some really ridiculous ones in there. With Wizard Lenin descended from at that point an undecided group of elves that were different.

I also needed the narrative that the sun elves/night elves are by far the most powerful for bullshit reasons. I wanted some really good useless elves who, per the origin story, had reason to believe they were making wise decisions.

So, we have it based on the typical things people would wish for: wealth, beauty, physical prowess, intelligence, and happiness. These all seem like fine wishes on the surface, they're not bad by any means, but it's one of those "oh wait, fuck, I didn't think of X!" and now they're all stuck.

Though the specifics of the origin story came after I'd picked my clans.

The night elves were decided earliest as I wanted/needed vampire equivalency with similar aesthetics. The gold elves were next as I needed artisans/minters and the like and that was fairly easy to come up with. Then were the sun elves as I needed a group that Lily came from and I needed prophecies, that fell into place very quickly because of that. The rest were decided last and roughly at the same time as "happiness elves are funny" said I, the love elves are what you'd expect someone to get saddled with, the moon elves are also what you'd expect someone to get saddled with, and the mind elves are a good power that is horrifically powerful but not the raw power of the big two but is also surprisingly easy to overlook.

And so we have our main elf clans.

With a shout out to the shoe elves being part of the reason there's branching clans because I need them to exist.

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

In the spirit of all your mortal combat asks, since The Heart of the World has been on my mind:

Ilyn versus a standard twilight vampire?

Would you judge the powers of destruction you gave him to be sufficient to win/survive?

The Heart of the World by me (@janedoewrites)

That's a tough one.

I'd say, depends who has forewarning and who is prepared.

If Ilyn knows there's a threat, even if it's at a great distance, then yes his stupid powers will probably allow him to burn the vampire/otherwise destroy it. If the vampire's very close, then it's a matter of Ilyn realizing he has to act while the vampire's just standing there not realizing there's a threat.

The problem with vampires in Twilight is that they are extremely fast and strong. They can move faster than the human eye can track. If they're close enough/they're aware they should do something, they can crush Ilyn's head like a melon before he'd have a chance to even react.

[thecarnivorousmuffinart]

Ilyn from The Heart of the World, circa 2023

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

Original Work Metas

Sisyphus

What Color Was Lily's Dress?

What's the Deal with the Human Nobility Names and Why Does Lily like Ilyn if in the Fic She Didn't Like Snape?

Wait, How Are Hermione and Elizabeth Even Different People?

Does Lily Love Wizard Lenin?

How'd You Come Up with the World and Was it World or Characters First?

What if Frank Met the Cullens from Twilight?

Was Ilyn Always Like That in Early Drafts? and Some Thoughts on Lily's 'Nobility' and General Good Will

What Were the Happiness and Love Elf Tasks and Why Were They Eaten?

What Would Frank Think of Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

Is Lily Autistic/Neurodivergent or Autistic/Neurodivergent Coded?

Why Did Ilyn Get His Name?

How Were the Elf Clans Decided?