He was basically magically drunk on emotions. He was not in the right mind to consent. And yet everyone acts like it was him choosing the cheat?? It’s ridiculous and I hate it. I skip anything to do with that plot every time it just pisses me off. If it happened to Julia or Alice, they would call it assault (not saying Margo/Eliot were in the wrong either bc they were also inebriated).

Pulled up the reason from book 1 spoken by Elliot but paraphrased and reinterpreted by me (somewhere from the 2/4 chapters)

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Any writers try comparing your writing to Grossman? Trying to top a magical world like is gonna be tough but I’m sure I can do it.

I recently got into reading the Magician's book trilogy and loved much of it. Quentin was an ass-hole but one I related to; frankly, I had acted like him and had similar desires when I was younger, and I overall enjoyed his character arc. I also liked most of the side characters and the setting.

All of this except for one thing: respectfully, I was not a fan of the ending to Julia's arc. Julia was my favourite character in the whole series; even in book 1, although she had a small role. The cemetery scene with Quentin made me feel terrible for her, and overall I thought it was just excellently written. I was happy in book 2 that she became a POV character and learned what she had been doing this whole time. The prose is her chapters were both hilarious and tragic. I even felt for her family who had only a passing mention.

That said, where I have issue with was how it all tied up. I did not like how she lost her shade, her humanity, to Reynard when he raped her. While the scene itself I had no particular issue with, the fact she became a dryad at the end displeased me to no end. While I'm all for her getting more powers, I didn't like the fact she had to dehumanize, or as she put it, have the "old Julia" die to achieve a semi-godhood she didn't really want and expressed so before the Reynard scene took place.

The reason I liked her character in the first place was that she was human, very flawed but understandably, perhaps tragically so. For most of book 2, when she acted very distant and inhuman with Quentin and gang; I was interested in the mystery on why. My impression was that she would reveal what happened to her and later regain her humanity, not lose it completely and become a dryad. Quentin tells us that she fulfilled herself, like this was all Julia, but I found that hard to believe, considering it wasn't really her choice. She found out about it in the Underworld like it was her destiny, a trope which I have come to dislike due to feeling it robs characters of much of their agency and serves more as a tool for the author to get them from point A to B, imho.

It also falls into another trope I dislike where a character gets divine powers and becomes aloof. It has its thematic elements but for me I always find it unsatisfying. Julia in book 3 has some personality, at least according to Quentin, but it felt off. Considering she was barely in the last book, and that the whole Reynard situation was over in a flash when Asmo killed him, it kind of added to my negative sentiment. It's not like Julia had to face him or take revenge or anything like that, but still, it was over in a snap.

One could say this is ironically tragic (edit: like I get it's partly the point), that she didn't want powers and godhood but was forced into the position anyways. I could see that and why this would resonate with folk. Still, the tragedy didn't really hit me, more so greatly annoyed me. I still thought she had more character stuff to work out. She had a character arc, sure, but the resolution left me deeply unsatisfied.

I hadn't watched the show but apparently it deviates from this somewhat.

All my opinion of course, I would like to know yours.

Has anyone bought any magicians merchandise from Propabila on ebay? Do they sell the real thing they advertise?

I chose that tag cause there are gonna be spoilers but not for all books since I’m only in book 2. If there’s a better tag to put it under please let me know.

So I got hating show Quentin. After he cheated on Alice in the show I started to dislike him until the point where anytime he was on screen it just pissed me off. I knew people didn’t like him in the books but I didn’t see it. I kinda liked his character actually. I sort of related to him a little bit. Then he cheated on Alice in the books and that changed. He has such a fucking victim mentality over it and blaming Janet/Margo for it. I was walking home just now listening to it and he claimed that she intended to ruin his relationship with her. I literally yelled out loud “YOU CHOSE TO SLEEP WITH HER!!! SHE DIDN’T MAKE YOU!!” And I looked over and there was a family on a porch looking at me like I was psycho lol. I’m pretty sure he gets worse and I’m not ready for that at all. I wanted to chuck my phone into the street everytime bro acts like a total victim. YOURE NOT A FUCKING VICTIM BRO YOU CHOSE TO DO IT!! Oh my god.

Does anyone else have pets named after The Magicians characters? This is Quentin (cat) & Margo (dog). I would love to see pictures of your pets as well!

https://preview.redd.it/sizkruwat3yd1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=65d69a5877c5a7472b7a71bba7687ffb6caca1e5

I’m giggling bc I’m watching the Magicians on Netflix, and I’m watching Season 4 Episode 4 specifically and Alice just read Netflix for filth when Christopher Plover is talking about using a spell that is basically magic AI to write some of his books he didn’t have passion for and Alice makes a comment about that explaining why Netflix is so bad 😭. It’s not even that funny really but something about watching a joke be executed that makes fun of Netflix on Netflix is funny to me, especially when it’s not said by a character that like hates everything or anything. Like they could’ve gone for Hulu or Amazon or something but ✨Netflix✨

I’ve seen everyone posting their time keys recently and here’s my rendition of the time key.

I got it back in 2019 have been planning a sleeve since I got it!

Yes that’s the triforce from Zelda No it’s not 100% lore accurate No I don’t care, it’s mine and I like it the way it is.

Not a great pic of it but oh well

So I’m on my idk how manyth rewatch and I’ve been thinking most sources say hades is regular god like the rest but what we know is regular gods treat humanity as toys and old gods like cells, the way hades is, acts and talks regarding humans seems like it’s more like cells and the way he sets up the underworld is like a smooth running operation just like cells in a body work together to run smoothly to keep the body alive. It’s stated that the old gods are the original primordial entities responsible for the creation of the multiverse, magic, life and creation itself and death is one of the entities with life there’s always death, and the way he speaks to penny about how magic is a tool to be given and taken by the gods like he knows from experience not only that but when the other gods talk about the old gods they usually call them their parents or the old gods where hades just calls them gods like they are just regular gods like him, and lastly with he talks to penny he says he’s keeping a low profile, so my thought is he’s an old god but not letting people know maybe because he was tired of staying in the realm of the old gods and wanted to help the dead pass on with ease so created the underworld to do that and people just assumed he was your regular god so he just stuck with that so he could live a somewhat peaceful existence

Or I’m too stoned and none of this makes sense

This is so unimportant but Penny is so hot in the show and like I feel in the book the way he, and honestly Elliot too, are described way more unattractive and odd looking. I recently decided to try the show after being convinced by this sub bc I read the books a while ago and didn’t want to be let down and I’m not but on season two and decided to reread the books and I’m reading the first one again rn and like Penny is not supposed to be this hot ‼️‼️‼️ I’m glad he is though I can give up this part of authenticity.

Are there other characters who look super different than described in book?

Or even just different from how you imagined if there isn’t a lot of description. And how did you imagine them?

Whoever created the Wikipedia post for the magicians either didn’t watch the series or didn’t get it. Positive reviews from rotten tomatoes was included. But missing was any mention of the passionate fan base. most disturbing to me, it was a list of negative critiques based on articles found on the Internet. Some of the articles reflected wildly inaccurate interpretations. For example, article that was cited claimed that Quentin was killed because he was “gay”. Another misguided criticism was that the show was “derivative” (rather than a twist on similar theme). I feel like the Wikipedia post imbalanced toward the negative. So does anyone care or does it not matter?

I’ve been listening to all three books lately. In a Teams chat for work, I almost wrote “mischief managed”. I know it’s originally from Harry Potter and only for the Marauder’s Map, but it gets used several times by Julia, Plum, and I think Quentin.

Any recommendations for other good shows/books/comics?

I'm rewatching the series since it's been a few years, and I don't remember Quentin being this insufferable. He gaslights Julia into thinking that magic isn't real after she didnt "pass" the entrance exam, and then once she discovers it is real, he has the nerve to judge her for being a Hedge Witch and "slumming it out with them" instead of just "growing up". But then once he was about to get expelled, he was going to leave a super sad voicemail about how he understood how having magic taken away from you was devastating.

And then every time they talk, it seems like he views the fact that he got into Break Bills as something he can hold over her head, as if him being a mediocore magic student is something to brag about. He can barely do magic and doesn't have a discipline (as of where I'm at in my rewatch), so I'm wondering where he gets the audacity from? I feel like it's all fuelled by the fact that he's always been in love with Julia and is deeply jealous of her, so he's taking it out on her to make himself feel better. I don't know but he just grates on my nerves.

Me and my spouse started the magicians. I’ve already seen it, I thought it was something he’d like (he loves it) so we decided to make it our new show. I don’t remember kady being so horrible. The last half of season 2 she just becomes insanely selfish. And pins every problem she has on penny (and everyone else). As if he didn’t get sick trying to help HER kill Raynard. Not only that risks his life again and essentially plans to use him to get info for the buzz feed woman. Even that lady told her she was shitty. But since she was saving penny she justified getting him in trouble AGAIN! then proceeded to steal the battery that they needed to bring magic back and save everyone to only save him only for him to die anyway. And not only did he die she BLAMED HIM FOR DYING AS IF YHE WHOLE REASON HE GOT SUPER CANCER WAS BECAUSE OF HIM HELPING HER. ik that penny had free will but she had him wrapped around her finger and she knows that. Almost everything bad that has happened to penny (so far) has been directly linked to kadys fuck ups. Minus the hand thing. That was 100% pennys fault he was being an ass. But anyway I just don’t remember her being so terrible. Let’s not forget her still being pissed at Julia for letting Raynard go as if she wasn’t looking directly at a god who could kill her immediately. But bc it didn’t go exactly her way she’s pissy. Which she admitted to when penny was in the hospital I believe. 😭 I just needed to vent bc my spouse agrees but this is his first watch.

Choose as many as you want! Feel free to give your rationale

Edit 1: OMG Guys, I am so sorry it's honestly been awhile since I saw this show and I FORGOT that Ess and Idri were related!!! In my mind, it was like 2 different princes or Kings, but then I researched and was getting him mixed up with the other queen instead. We don't incest-stan here, so it's dealers choice for another man, but I'm using Rupert.

The Physical Kids: Quentin, Eliot, Margo

I'm a LONER!: Alice, Kady, Marina

Mature Lovers: Dean Fogg, Zelda, Irene McCallister

Boys Night: Josh, Todd, Charlton

This May Hurt: Eliot Monster, Julia Monster, The Beast

Girl Power: Alice, Julia, Kady

Peaches and Plums: Quentin/Eliot, Penny/Kady, Fen/Margo

Fillorian Buggery: Tick Pickwit, Rupert, King Idri

To Divinity: Ember, Melody, Reynard

Sapphic Overload: Alice/Marina, Margo/Kady, Julia/Fen

Testosteroh-my-gosh!: Quentin/Penny, Eliot/Josh, Idri/Rupert

For the Story: The Centaur, The Fairy Queen, The Questing Pig

Will I ever not hate her? I’m too the point where I almost feel like fast forwarding when she is on screen 😂😫 I hate to be brutal but I would love for her to be killed off… lol is there any hope? A character arc? Something?! Please spill the beans for me.

The monster/Eliot. In a week I'll be making little cakes for his birthday party 🐝🎂

Rewatching from the umpeenth time, and wondering if the physical cottage was actually the cottage from the mosaic episode? We see the cottage have a direct link to Fillory multiple times throughout the series, and a stated inability to trace ownership- potentially implying that it existed far longer than Brakebills.

Additionally, since Q & El had an ability to remember the events of the Mosaic, im assuming it happened in that timeline, just in the past?

Time moves slower in Fillory than Earth right? I think they mess this idea up or make it a bit inconsistent throughout the show so maybe it's just random at this point.

Anyway, how much time ACTUALLY passed before josh and fen got together when margo was gone? In initial watches I didn't think much of it bc i was like oh years and years passed etc... so it's natural.

But if they sent them a letter to jump 300 years in the future to current day with Margo, not THAT much time must've passed right? I'm starting to think them getting together actually might've been kinda messed up lol.

I have had this theory about the way that people interpret the books and I wanted to see what the folks on this sub think about it.

The Magicians is both one of my favorite shows and my favorite book series, though for entirely different reasons. I love the characters in the show, and the scenarios and the general humor. I love Q and Julia and Margo and Elliot and Penny and Fen and Josh and even Alice (who I know a lot of people really don’t like). I love the books, however, because of the world that they create and because I honestly, genuinely relate to Q as a character.

I suspect that most people on this sub, including myself, were exposed to the series through the show first and then read the books afterwards. And, a sentiment that I find really common on this sub is that either people start the first book and can’t finish it because they hate Quentin so much and can’t relate to him, or they do finish it and tell people it’s worth pushing through because while Quentin sucks early on he does get better.

I agree that people should try to push through book 1 if they care for the series because books 2 and 3 are better and, obviously because Quentin matures a lot through those books. Where I think I differ from most people here, however, is that I find Quentin throughout the series to be maybe the most personally relatable character that I’ve ever come across in a novel. Book 1 Q is 18 and you see the world through his eyes. He’s miserable, vindictive, at times mean spirited, pretty misogynistic, and downright unpleasant. He does things that you read and you think “nooo, fucking why, you were so close.” But at the same time, with time and distance I can put myself into his 18 year old shoes and understand him. I can sort of see myself as that 18 year old guy. I don’t think that most people on this sub can relate.

And here is where my theory comes in - and I hope it’s not read as sexist or anything, it’s just an observation I have. I think that the show, by its nature, and then by extension this sub, tends to appeal to a very diverse crowd and especially women and queer folks. It’s got a super diverse cast of characters, and (imo) is just naturally diverse and inclusive in a way that the books are not (e.g. the show clearly meant to go more of a QuElliot direction, while the books were clearly QuAlice). Everyone’s favorite episode of the show (including my own) is Life in a Day/Peaches & Plums, etc. I think that it does a really good job in that sense. I’ll even say that as a generic straight white guy, it’s really hard to get any of my generic straight white guy friends to be interested in this show even though I keep trying to get everyone I know to watch it. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever succeeded.

But Quentin is sort of a generic straight white guy, and Lev Grossman too is sort of a generic straight white guy writing Book 1 in like 2007 (Book 1 was released in 2009). So I wonder if this is sort of a situation where much of the show fandom and the subreddit don’t relate to Quentin for more or less that reason. I feel like his growth in many ways mirrors my growth as a person, and that’s part of the reason I’ve the books.

TBC, I don’t mean this to be Quentin apologia - I know he’s a dick early on and I don’t mean to defend that. Just to share a perspective.

I'm re-watching the Magicians currently. I finished "A Life in the Day" last night and I'm currently listening to the song "Evolve" by Phoria that plays during the episode.

I just wanted to come gush about how much I love this show. This is probably my fourth(?) time through the series and it has been a couple years since my last time through.

The writing of the show. The way they have these dynamic very different characters. The actors they chose to portray each. The way they take time to have each of the different characters interact uniquely with each other at different times. The whimsy. The drama. The heart.

The show is just mostly perfection.

It's such a comfort watch for me.

I just felt like I really needed to come say how much this show means to me.

Side note: Anyone watching Agatha All Along? It's so so good.