Griffins and/or Canon · 5:15pm May 23rd, 2015
While I've not yet had time to see it, apparently today's episode was pretty cool, and did a substantial amount of worldbuilding involving griffins. It even had Gilda, by all accounts.
Unfortunately, the very next chapter of Besides the Will of Evil, which is ready to go and will hopefully be out on Monday, also heavily features griffins, and it seems that my griffins are rather different from the show's. In further misfortune, it's really too late for me to rewrite the chapter; it took me about five days to write as things stand. From the start, the Dangerous Business/Will of Evil storyline has taken place in an alternate universe, so technically I have some cover. All the same, I'm sorry I wasn't able to adhere more closely to the show's continuity, which I always try to do as best I can, even given the very un-showlike circumstances into which I've thrown Twilight Sparkle and her friends. So I apologize in advance if Issidonia looks nothing like Griffinstone.
And if you're wondering, Issidonia is named after after the Issedones, a Central Asian people first recorded in the writings of the Greek historian Herodotus. According to Herodotus, the very first accounts of griffins came from the Issedones, and over time, legend placed the griffins' homeland either among the Issedones or just beyond them. They were also, of course, notorious for guarding gold.
See you Monday!
Don't worry, you're not alone in this. I just put the finishing touches on my next fic last night, which heavily features The Griffon Empire, their culture, their history, their capital city, their relationship with Equestria ... and I'm not going back and rewriting a 300K word epic just for that. A) The fans would murder me and B) honestly, I kind of like all the worldbuilding I've got a lot better.
Things were bound to diverge from canon eventually no matter how closely you sit. And honestly, there are instances where fanon works better.
Sticking 100% to canon never did any fic any good.
Your EVERYTHING is different from the show. I see no problems whatsoever!
Your story wouldn't exist if you stuck to Hasbro's marketing team's ideas for what to throw into the canonverse. Just enjoy being different. I know I wouldn't be reading something so big if it was mostly a re-imagining of every episode. xD
What is the obsession people in this community have of sticking with canon? Personally, I think that the best works diverge from what we see in the show at some point. Having the griffon species be Klingons with talons is way better than making them into surly Ferengi.
3091217 You're preaching to the choir with that statement.
3091296
It isn't so much sticking to canon as choosing how you are going to remain the same or diverge instead of suddenly finding out how close or far you are.
3091217
This.
You have no reason to apologise. This is your fic at the end of the day and its your baby to do with as you please.
Trying to keep your story 'canon' has been a recipe for disaster since the end of season two. More authors kill their stories by trying to keep with it rather than just letting their fic be its own entity. I believe the vast majority of readers on this site care more that you can write the characters and world in interesting ways than whether your story could ever fit in show canon.
Will of Evil (and Dangerous Business before it) has done an excellent job of interesting world building, so I wouldn't worry too much about if the show disagrees with it.
I say write whatever you want.
You're story is too good. :D
It's not like not adhering strictly to canon makes a story less of a story, especially if it was written/developed prior to whatever "invalidated" it. Just do whatever you had planned before.
3091296 Oh my gosh! The Griffons of Griffonstone were surly Ferengi!
... Really? That's... hm.
Spoilers for episode:
That casts the gold-obsession of the griffons in the show in an interestingly "not out of left field" way.
Well, it's not like all the griffons have to share a single culture. It can be just a different country, like Equestria and Gildedale.