Pandavas’ Last and First

I am back again after a long time, bringing a lot of discussions with me. I should’ve been back to you before, but there was a lot of work with the normality returning to our lifestyle. But I would never miss this one, and I quickly found some time to write something.

Pandavas were with us for five books. Wait! Wasn’t it four books of the Pandava series? Yes, it was, but there was also a little story in Rick Riordan Present’s first anthology. Now, we’re waiting for the ultimate book of the Pandava series on 5th April, the last of the long story. But maybe you shouldn’t be so sad, as the Pandava series is also starting in the graphic novel adaptation from 19th April (it was actually 5th April before).

I felt a pang of sadness when this series is said to end. It’s not like the Marvel Cinematic Universe where there are pre-stitched storylines, or like the Middle-Earth where J.R.R. Tolkien wrote the basis of the upcoming movies or shows. I didn’t expect it to continue for a long time, but I also didn’t wish it to end now!

Still, here are a few predictions that I’d like to make regarding The Nectar of Immortality, and also something about the first of the graphic novel series. Get ready.

 

Disclaimer: This article is based on the information obtained related to this series till 2nd April. The predictions done can either happen or not in the book, and several spoilers can be mentioned in the writing.

 

Part A: The Nectar of Immortality

Chapter 1: Return of Boo

Boo is always our favorite character. He wasn’t just comic relief; Boo was also a complex character that Chokshi explored in the 3rd and 4th books of the series. And after the tragic death of Boo, he has returned back as a firebird. Well, you could’ve made fun of him when he was just a pigeon, but now you’re going to get a stream of fire from his face.

I think Roshani Chokshi is going to explore Boo a lot more and give him an important role around or in the final battle of the Pandavas (of course there’d be a final battle!). And maybe that’s why we even got the first countdown article to the Nectar of Immortality about Boo.

 

Chapter 2: Agni and the Firebird

It is pretty obvious that Agni is returning; because why’d there be a stray coin lying around and being useless when it’s supposed to be super useful. You might all think Agni will give them all Fire-based weapons, like- Aru getting a Fire-y version of Vajra, Brynne getting mace with fire streaming, and so on. But I think somehow they’ll get their old weapons back or the similar kind of weapons with the same power or more hidden powerful features.

And the Firebird, a.k.a Boo, can also be connecting with Agni in some way.

 

Chapter 3: A lot of different POVs

If you read the first chapter of the last book (from the sneak peek by Read Riordan) it’s from Kara’s perspective. Roshani Chokshi had changed the style of narration from The City of Gold bringing the sidekicks to spotlights. While it was done on a small scale in the first book, it can be a lot in this book. So, you can already be ready to hear lesser from Aru.

Since all the POVs seen by us till now are for the Potatoes only, we may also get some insight from the Sleeper’s POV.

 

Chapter 4: A lot more returning

It has been teased in the synopsis of the Nectar of Immortality that the last book will feature several characters from the first four books (probably not the dead ones). We may expect to see the ones who were talked about a lot in those books.

[I was just thinking, if it was a superhero movie or just a movie, there might even be a cameo of Roshani!]

 

Chapter 5: And the Sisters’ return

Here, the Sisters are meant to indicate those Pandavas whom we didn’t see in many fights since they were children. They’re Sheela and Nikita. But they also helped in a different way in the battles of the Pandavas. I think these two will be back again with their physical superpowers and strengthen the Potatoes. A similar thing is maybe indicated in the sneak peeks.

 

Chapter 6: One big tragedy

We all can say for sure that there will be one big tragedy. It can either help the Pandavas, or make them weak for a moment. I think the tragic incident can happen to anyone related to Aru (I am not saying the probable names since it might trigger the emotions of some fans) since this can boost the emotions of the hero (also “heroine”) and make her stand against the evil. Again, there might even be an emotional battle at the end with the Sleeper, since we’ll know that he’s (or was) her father. We get a bit of indication of that from the first chapter where he’s said to touch a pendant when no one was seeing.

 

Chapter 7: Return of Rudy

A lot of people will return – I said that already. But not to mention Rudy would be a mistake since he’s maybe the comic relief now after Boo changed into a firebird. Still, Roshani is an expert to turn the comic relief characters into major plot points, and we can expect the same for Rudy. And I think it’s quite obvious from the cover (more below).

 

Chapter 8: Final will be really a FINALE

The final battle can be very much expected to be a big finale. We can expect some famous Hindu mythology key figures to appear after their silent treatment like the Olympians did in Percy Jackson and the Olympians. And we can all say that we’ll be more than satisfied when we read Aru Shah and the Nectar of Immortality and find ourselves so immersed in the last battle that we’ll forget about all the other battles. And I am pretty sure it happens ‘after’ the Sleeper gets the Nectar.


Chapter 9: the Cover

The cover of the book is one of the most reliable predicting sources (well it tricked us all a bit in Aru Shah and the City of Gold). The most obvious thing from it is the fact something is missing in the cover, probably the crackling energy around them, or… their powerful weapons or anything magical! It’s a really nice approach to just keep us in the dark about their weapons.

Since there are no weapons, we can say that the scene happens before they get any weapons of the sort. Another obvious thing is, that they’re all in a cave which is probably the labyrinth where the Nectar is hidden.

And another obvious thing is the big snake that takes up a big area of the cover. First, you might assume it is an enemy that the Potatoes need to face in the battle. But if you look closely, when everyone looks scared or awed, Rudy (he has green and yellow scales on the side of his face) is actually smiling! I don’t know what that means, maybe the snake is good or Rudy is acting weird.

Wait! Was Rudy smiling watching the snake or something else? If you look closely again, the Potatoes were looking at the shining embedded stones or something on the other side of it (outside the cover) and they’re actually awed because of it and Rudy looks quite pleased (maybe thinking of taking these to the Naga world, or make Boo something out of it, not sure).

Let’s get back to the snake. The serpent is very big and well, I would’ve been scared if I was there (LOOK POTATOES LOOKUP OR YOU’LL BE SERPENT FOOD!). Another thing I can say is that the snake is native to the cave or a part of the labyrinth system, maybe even guardian of the Nectar, because it has all the crystals/stones we see in the cave embedded with its body. OR maybe the stones got stuck while it was coming through the hole above it.

Now let’s go to the bright yellow-orange light shining through a hole. I think it is the entrance to the cave since we were informed in the first chapter that there is no light in the cave to show the way. That will indicate that the scene happens after they enter the cave.

Some little reminders from the cover: Boo (or any firebird) isn’t there, Sheela and Nikita aren’t there, etc.

 

Chapter 10: Others

I don’t think there are any more strong predictions to predict for the upcoming book. Still, I might even have forgotten to add that in the article. Now, if you’re really trying to find a reliable source and really-going-to-happen predictions, just read the latest Read Riordan articles. They’re pretty informative.

 

 

Part B: The Graphic Novel

Okay, first something I’d like to say: giving the release date to 19th April was good, but why did you have to ‘change’ it after putting 5th April before?! Now, let’s go to discuss what we can expect from the upcoming graphic novel adaptation of Aru Shah and the End of Time, called Aru Shah and the End of Time: The Graphic Novel.

 

Chapter 1: Not Similar

When reading the graphic novel (sometimes we also call it comics) you’ll have to keep in mind that both aren’t similar. A graphic novel is the still visualization of the book illustrated on pages (not from a dictionary, but I meant that). And when designing a graphic novel several things are kept in mind: keeping the main plot perfect, and of course cutting some scenes from the book.

But not to worry, in the talk with Joe Caramagna (the adaptor of the graphic novel) Roshani Chokshi had asked him how he approached the adaptation, and if you read Joe’s answer you’ll be quite pleased. At the end of the answer, Joe’s four sentences are very helpful.

 

Chapter 2: About the Art

The art of the graphic novel was done by Anu Chouhan, whose first-time art is this. Still, I don’t think there would be any problem with that; just go through the preview pages from Read Riordan and you can see what I am talking about. Aru is quite heroic-looking in the scene, and Mini is still mini.

 

Chapter 3: Others

There’s nothing to do but wait for this book to come on 19th April. After finishing Aru Shah and the Nectar of Immortality you will have little time to take in all you’ve read since Aru Shah and the End of Time: The Graphic Novel is coming soon!

 

 

Acknowledgment 

NOTE: It was a great pleasure writing this blog again. I always apologize for any mistakes, or anything missing (which I may not remember at that time), and the same applies to this too. Another thing is I revised a lot for some of the latest blogs after they were published, and I said for which. But in this case similar step of revisions will be taken, so no problem.

I planned on bringing my illustration here, but unfortunately, I had to just follow the old way of designing with the given characters and other stuff. I hope I will be less busy when writing the review and doing the planned illustration.

Copyright Information: Pandava series and related works are copyright owned by © Roshani Chokshi | The background, Brynne in the article-art are from the cover of Aru Shah and the Nectar of Immortality book. The Mini, Rudy, and Aiden arts are extracted from Read Riordan’s character arts. The Aru art is from the cover of Aru Shah and the End of Time. And the Sleeper art is from the cover of Aru Shah and the End of Time: The Graphic Novel. The texts are by Md. Iman Anwar.

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