So... on a scale of 1 to 10, how crazy am I?
Okay, so I know every person has their own quirks and what not, but I wanted to see if you, my flist friends, could help me determine just how quirky my quirks are. I'd like to know if I've crossed the line and delved into cuckoo territority.
So, some backstory... I haven't been much of a reader since high school (too busy, I guess... or at least that's what I tell myself), but my dad bought me a Kindle for Christmas, so I resolved to start reading more. Or at least reading something new, not just my old fave stand-bys. I just finished Mockingjay yesterday, the third and final book of Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games trilogy. And my god, was it epic. So, so good. I tore through the entire series in three days of non-stop reading. I'm emotionally ripped to shreds right now, but in a good way.
I had heard about The Hunger Games all over LJ, so I knew it would be good, but I had no idea how utterly amazing it would be. I went in knowing only three things: 1) Katniss is awesome and has olive skin and dark hair, 2) there is a love triangle, and 3) Peeta is the shit.
Okay, so here comes the crazy... For me to truly enjoy a book, I have to make it come alive. You know, see it, hear it, smell it, all that stuff. I can get through a book I don't care about without envisioning everything, but if I really love a story I have to fully immerse myself in it. And the best way I can imagine and connect with the characters is to, for lack of a better word, cast them. Now, most of the books I've read in recent memory have already been TV shows or movies, so the casting was pretty much done for me. But with The Hunger Games, like I said, all I had to go on was that Katniss was olive-skinned and dark-haired, and there was a love triangle.
So, as I sat down to begin reading, I thought, "Hey, why not cast the Vampire Diaries characters? That should be fun." Not the actors who play the characters of TVD, mind you, but the characters themselves. And, as I began to get further and further into the story, I was amazed at how well it actually worked! I was able to cast pretty much all of the TVD characters, with a few "guest stars."
So, without further ado, here's my cast of The Hunger Games:
1) Elena Gilbert as Katniss Everdeen
To be honest, after I got through the first few pages of The Hunger Games, I really thought that this one might not work. Sure, Elena has the physical similarities going for her, but she was almost too soft to be Katniss. Katniss is hard, guarded, practical and no-nonsense. Elena is the girl-next-door. She smiles and laughs and worries about her family and boy problems and history homework. You know, when she's not being chased by deadly vampires.
But as I got further into the series, I realized, "Katniss is what Elena could've been." Katniss grew into being a hard, sheltered person because of the hardships she suffered. Her dad dying, her family starving, these things forced her to create an impenetrable shell around herself. But at her core, Katniss is Elena. Regardless of what crazy shit she's going through, her number one priority is always those she loves. She would kill for the people she loves, and she would die for the people she loves. And that is Elena to a tee.
What would Elena have been if her parents had died at a much earlier age? How would she react if someone told Jeremy that he'd have to compete in a battle to the death in some arena? I'm pretty sure the first thing she'd do would be offer herself up in his place, just like Katniss. After I realized that, it was pretty easy to imagine Elena as Katniss. Well, maybe with a little Katherine thrown in, too...
2) Damon Salvatore as Peeta Mellark
This was an easy one for me. As I said, I knew that there would be a love triangle and that Peeta would be awesome, so naturally Damon was the only choice. Again, the further I went into the book, the more I realized how perfect a choice it was. Peeta, like Damon, is a character who is solely driven by love. Everything he does in the first two books (and most of the third), he does because of his love for Katniss and his desire to protect her, even at the cost of his certain death. Forgive me while I swoon…
Now, that’s not to say that there weren't dissimilarities, as well. The first being, most obviously, the physical differences, ie. the blond hair. I was able to get over that pretty easily, because there are only a few passages about Peeta’s hair, but many passages about his oh-so-blue eyes, which are a defining trait of Damon’s. The other difference between Peeta and Damon was how, well, nice Peeta is. Damon can be nice (if it’s Elena or he wants something), but Peeta just is nice. But, just like with Elena/Katniss, I realized that Peeta is who Damon could have been, without Katherine, without dying, without 145+ years of abandonment and heartbreak. Peeta isn’t just a goody-goody, he has wits and a bit of snark, and there were a lot of lines that I imagined him delivering with Damon’s smirk firmly in place. He has a way with words that makes it easy for people to trust him and believe him, and he uses that to his advantage without meaning to. Even with his relationship with Katniss, there were so many great moments of back and forth between them that were classic Damon/Elena.
Actually, it’s funny but amidst the tragedy of Peeta’s brainjacking and personality change towards Katniss, all I could think was, “Okay, now this is Damon.” Peeta in Mockingjay is the Damon we have today. He’s conflicted, hurt, doesn’t know who to trust, and he doesn’t give a damn whose feelings he hurts. However, in the end he, like Damon (hopefully), is redeemed by the power of love. Awww.
3) Stefan Salvatore as Gale Hawthorne
This was probably the easiest person to imagine all the way throughout the book. To me, Stefan is Gale. He’s a good, upstanding guy who always wants to remain at Katniss’ side to protect her, but gets taken away from her due to forces beyond his control. He’s a hunter, strong and quiet, and he has a dark streak hiding just below the surface. All in all, it was so easy to hear Stefan’s voice every time Gale uttered a line. Plus, I just know Gale would be a wrinkly forehead brooder, just like Stefan. ^_^
4) Robbie Coltrane/Hugh Laurie as Haymitch Abernathy
I had a loooot of trouble with this one. When I imagined Haymitch, I always saw him as s drunken fat old man with a permanent five o’clock shadow. However, the one constant was Hagrid’s rough n’ tumble voice (so what if he had a British accent… for some reason, half of my supporting cast seemed to have British accents). The problem arose in the second book. Up until then, Haymitch was a big old drunkard. But with Catching Fire, I realized when Haymitch possibly could have gone into the games that he couldn’t have been any older than 51 (since it had been 25 years since he had participated). He also would’ve had to be physically in shape enough to possibly participate again. So I decided Hugh Laurie would be fun, but with his House accent. I was okay with that for awhile, but it didn’t seem to fit. So by the time Haymitch showed up in Mockingjay, I just gave up and let Robbie Coltrane have at him.
5) Alaric Saltzman as Finnick Odair
It’s funny, ‘cause when Finnick showed up in Catching Fire, I had absolutely no idea how awesome he’d be or how long he’d stick around. I just knew that he was the pretty boy from District Four who came over to flirt with Katniss, so I thought Alaric would be fun in the role.
As the book went on, however, I began to love Finnick’s character more and more. By the time he died in the tunnels to save Katniss’ and the other’s lives, I was absolutely gutted. It felt like I had just watched Alaric die on my TV screen, and I shudder just imagining that.
RIP Finnick Odair.
6) Jenna Sommers as Annie Cresta
Annie Cresta, the hopelessly unaware love of Finnick Odair’s life. Oh, and she had red hair. Need I say more?
7) Bonnie Bennett as Rue
Bonnie hasn’t always been a favorite TVD character of mine, but for some strange reason she sprang to my mind almost immediately after we were introduced to Rue. You know, except a few years younger. I think of Rue more like Bonnie in early to mid season one - innocent, a bit distrustful of what’s going on around her, scared, but willing to help her friends when it counted. Plus, it made Rue’s death even more painful because I could imagine what Elena would be like losing Bonnie.
8) Elijah as Cinna
Yeah, this one shouldn’t work at all. But, for some odd reason, it does. Maybe it’s because of Elijah’s old world charm and European flair, but his face immediately came to mind when Cinna first made his appearance as Katniss’ stylist. Regardless of the danger Elijah presents to Elena on the show right now, the two do seem to have a certain chemistry together. It was nice to see them as friends and confidantes in my mind, anyway. ^_^
9) Dolores Umbridge as Effie Trinket
This is another case of I have no idea why casting. When Effie first appeared with her insistence on manners and schedules, Umbridge’s tinkling laughter and little a-hems immediately came to mind.
10) Tyler Lockwood as Cato
In The Hunger Games, Cato was the biggest threat, a forceful, remorseless bully. Pretty much what Tyler was in all of season one.
11) Caroline Forbes as Delly Cartwright
Delly is bouncy, smiling, and ever optimistic. She sees the best in everyone, and she makes sure that they know it. She is the one who first connects to Peeta after his brainjacking, and it’s her positivity that allows her to break through. When I imagine Delly’s smile, all I see is Caroline.
12) Elle Fanning as Prim Everdeen
Cute, blonde, innocent, and wise beyond her years.
13) Dianna Agron as Madge Undersee
At first, I tried casting Caroline as Madge, but over and over again Ms. Agron kept popping up in my head. She’s lovely, so I went with it.
14) Eliza Dushku/Faith as Johanna Mason
Johanna was Faith. You were never quite sure if you could trust her, but in the end she was there as an ally. She exuded toughness, but just scratch the surface and a vulnerable, fragile girl was easy to find.
Okay, so that’s it. The rest of the characters were jumbled bits of my imagination. I was gonna try to make an art of what I thought President Snow would look like, but it was just too frightening to commit to paper.
And now to the question that is the title of my post… just how freaking crazy am I? Is this normal? Even slightly? Do other people put this much thought into how the characters of the books they read appear? You all seem like very well-read people, so I figured if I could ask anyone about the normalcy of this behavior, it would be you. So go ahead and tell me if I’m utterly insane or not. Feel free to use a rating system if you want. ^_~