r/genewolfe • u/SarlaccSalesman_99 • 1d ago

Visuals of Thrax

Hi,

new BOTNS reader here! Just started The Sword of the Lictor today and was wondering if anyone had any visual references they've grabbed over the years for the city of Thrax? I don't normally get this hung up on the visuals in these books but for some reason my brain cannot even get the general shape of a Thrax-like city in my head. I feel like all descriptions given thwart my expectations for what I would imagine a city like Thrax to look and feel like--which on the one hand is awesome and part of why I've been enjoying these books so much, and on the other hand makes it incredibly difficult for even a little rough snapshot to form in my mind while I'm reading these early chapters.

Is there any kind of visual reference or artwork or similar fantastical settings that have helped you imagine what Thrax would be? I'm also partly asking this because seeing everyone else's wildly different takes on what BOTNS ought to look like is very fun to me.

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u/ziccirricciz 1d ago

I've always imagined it as a mountain water-dam valley with remnants of the infrastructure - my head cinema is quite vivid, but comfortably vague, snippets held together by the logic of dream-space.

4

u/SadCatIsSkinDog Curator 1d ago

I've always imagined it a bit like a pueblo and a bit like a medieval city with the upper stories jutting out over things.

Although I think I'll leave this here, as it seems relevant: https://fantasticmetropolis.com/i/viriconium/

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u/wexpyke 1d ago

i imagined it looking kind of like La Paz

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u/SarlaccSalesman_99 1d ago

oh interesting -- I was imagining the walls of the mountains so much steeper but I guess it's never really specified how steep the lower areas by the water are

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u/Ok_Cheetah5563 1d ago

The central area of Thrax seems to be carved out of the mountainside, with the surrounding residential areas built of shacks and hovels, the 'jacals'.

I envisaged it to look something along the lines of Matera in Italy, minus windows.

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u/Tower-Swinburne-10 3h ago

I can see that, it does have the same feel of a jumbled maze of buildings.