A Discovery of Witches is a British show based on the All Souls trilogy. For those who are curious, it is a paranormal romance, which explains why some people have been making jokes about it being a healthier version of Twilight. In any case, for people who enjoy a touch of academia mixed in with both fantasy and romance, A Discovery of Witches might be worth checking out. Here are 10 things that you may or may not have known about A Discovery of Witches:
1. Based on Books By Deborah Harkness
The show is based on novels by Deborah Harkness. While there are some people who are most familiar with Harkness because of her novels, it is interesting to note that there are other people who are most familiar with her because of her non-fictional output. This is because Harkness is a historian who teaches at the University of Southern California, meaning that it should come as no surprise to learn that she has released more than one piece of historical non-fiction over the course of her career.
2. Her Field Influenced Her Novels
Unsurprisingly, Harkness’s field of study has had a fair amount of influence over her novels. For those who are curious, she specializes in the history of science, which encompasses a number of subjects that most people in modern times would categorize under magic. This is because the line between science and magic was blurred in earlier centuries, so much so that a lot of people who are famous for their achievements in one are known to have dabbled in the other. For instance, Issac Newton is well-known to have been an alchemist.
3. The Novels Started Out As a “Thought Experiment”
In the New Zealand Herald, Harkness stated that the novels started out as a “thought experiment” but turned into something more over time. The whole thing happened because she saw an airport bookstore that was crammed with books about vampires and other supernatural matters, which she believes might be explained by a modern desire for the world to be filled with possibilities that are beyond the scope of science.
4. Claims to Have Been Influenced By No Vampire Fiction Besides Anne Rice Novels
Harkness has claimed that she has never read vampire fiction besides Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles, which she read when she was still in her 20s. If true, she would be following in the footsteps of a lot of other writers of vampire fiction because those books can claim a huge share of the responsibility for the increased focus on the humanity of vampires in modern pop culture.
5. The Show Has Elements Drawn from Harkness’s Own Experiences
With that said, it is perhaps unsurprising to learn that the novels also draw considerable inspiration from Harkness’s own experiences. For example, she has spent a lot of time in the Bodleian Library, which is the main research library of the University of Oxford. Likewise, she was the one who found a couple of manuscripts for the Book of Soyga, which is a book on various kinds of magic that was once owned by the Elizabethan era scholar John Dee.
6. The Plot Starts with the Main Character Finding a Magical Book
In any case, the plot of A Discovery of Witches starts with the main character Diana Bishop finding a magical book while conducting research at the Bodleian Library. Said book thrusts her into the magical side of things, which comes complete with the discovery that she is a witch. Moreover, the find causes Diana to come to the attention of other people associated with the world of magic as well.
7. The Love Interest Is a Vampire
In particular, the book causes Diana to come to the attention of a vampire geneticist named Matthew Clairmont, who serves as the love interest for the story. Since A Discovery of Witches is supposed to be a drama on top of everything else, it should come as no surprise to learn that Diana and Matthew’s budding romance is complicated by the fact that their respective factions don’t get along very well. Something that puts serious strain on them as well as their relationship.
8. Some People See the Romance As Being Healthier than Other Paranormal Relationships
With that said, some reviews such as the one published on The A.V. Club have stated that the romance in A Discovery of Witches is much healthier than its counterparts in the most famous paranormal romance of recent times. Essentially, the key details boil down to three things. First, the two leads share an interest, which is helped by the onscreen chemistry of their respective actors. Two, the two leads have a genuine sense of trust in one another, which is rarer than it should be in romance novels. Three, the relationship is more equitable in nature.
9. The Characters Are on More Equitable Footing
That last point might sound a bit strange on initial consideration. After all, Diana starts out as a more or less normal woman who has just found out that she has some magical heritage of her own, whereas Grey is a vampire who has had centuries and centuries in which to accumulate wealth as well as other forms of power. However, the two are nonetheless on more equitable footing than their counterparts in either Twilight or, say, Fifty Shades of Grey. Partly, this is because Diana is an adult woman who has a well-established career and becomes involved with the supernatural because of her own background. However, the nature of the two leads’ interaction helps a great deal as well, which is very much rooted in their respective personalities.
10. Likes Its References a Bit Too Much
The Atlantic has pointed out one potential flaw of A Discovery of Witches that might prove irksome. In short, the show likes to name drop a lot, which is wholly unsurprising considering its interest in history. For some people, it might be fun to hear people and places that they recognize being mentioned. For other people, they might find it irritating because they see it as being neither clever nor interesting.
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