Has anyone read the novelisation?
For a small coin I recently managed to buy myself a second hand copy of Joan D. Vinge’s Ladyhawke novelisation and would definitely recommend it to others who, like me, have watched the film countless times and would like that extra bit of insight into the characters :) There may be some minor spoilers for both the book and the film in this post. Ye be warned!
But firstly, I’ll get my disappointment off my chest in regard to what has become of my favourite character, Imperius. Far from the lovable drunk monk portrayed so brilliantly by Leo McKern in the film, the character we meet in the novel retains the drunkenness but unfortunately lacks the charm. In the novel his bitterness has been amplified to the point where he is quite rude in nearly his every word, calling Phillipe names like ‘cretin’ and ‘lummox’. While admittedly not the harshest words ever spoken, I still prefer the Imperius whose worst words are merely, ‘You sacrilegious young imp!’ I wonder if the Imperius in the novel was the original plan for the character in the original screenplay, and that this was later calmed down by Leo McKern or Richard Donner to create the character we know from the film. Perhaps Joan D. Vinge decided to amplify Imperius’ bitterness to emphasise his grief at what he had done, and to also create more of a contrast between his and Phillipe’s relationship when they first meet to how it is at the end. Fortunately, the Imperius in the novel later becomes more recognisable as the one from the film but overall I felt that the character wasn't nearly as good as McKern's portrayal.
What’s great about the novel is that the characters and their relationships with one another are given more time to be described in detail. Despite seeing the film numerous times I’ve never quite understood how tragic the curse in Ladyhawke really is. Aside from being separated from Navarre, in the novel it is put forward clearly how Isabeau has for the past two years been forced to wander the wilderness at night, never seeing the sun and never being able to interact with other human beings. Therefore the arrival of Phillipe is extremely important to her and he becomes her first friend and ally for years. The bond between them seems much stronger than it is portrayed in the film.
It’s good to hear how Navarre and Isabeau have interacted the past two years while separated by the curse. At one point, Isabeau wakes to find that Navarre has left a sunflower for her by his sword’s hilt. When Navarre wakes in human form the next morning, he finds ‘that during the night someone had braided [Goliath’s] heavy mane and curled it into ringlets. The sunflower he had picked at the farm and left for her was woven into the horse’s forelock. He had never seen a horse embarrassed- until now. He crossed the clearing to the stallion’s side, still grinning and shook his head. “Poor bastard,” he murmured, his throat tight, “you’re defenceless against her too, aren’t you?”
Little charms like that made me smile. But anyway, that’s what I thought of the novelisation. If anyone else here has read it, what do you think and do you agree with my comments I made about Imperius’ portrayal in the novel?
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One more thing; in the film when Phillipe asks Imperius 'Does she know...that you were the priest who betrayed them?' you'll see some fruit hanging up. In the novel, Imperius uses fruit as a make-shift astrolabe to calculate the movement of celestrial bodies and uses his scientific knowledge to calculate future events such as eclipses. I wonder how the novel and film managed to keep details like this straight, and whether there was perhaps a deleted scene where Imperius shows Phillipe how his fruit astrolabe works.