The Dead Lands ((NEW))
Hongi leaves and attempts to track down Wirepa. On the way, he discovers that Wirepa and his men have entered the Dead Lands, an area where any who venture in are believed to be killed by a monster known as a Taniwha in Maori mythology. Hongi, suspecting that the monster is in fact a man, tracks him down and, although reluctant, the monster agrees to help Hongi hunt down Wirepa. The monster is in fact a warrior (who is never named in the film) who murdered all the men of his own tribe, and he kills anyone who ventures there to prevent his tribe's historic lands from being occupied. The warrior is motivated by a desire to redeem himself and thus be led to the afterlife by his vengeful ancestors.
The Dead Lands
While tracking down Wirepa, Hongi has a series of visions of his long dead grandmother, who helps them on their way. Hongi and the warrior track down Wirepa and kill several of his men before Wirepa flees with his surviving warriors. Hongi and the warrior go after them, and the warrior kills a small band of hunters they come across to keep his identity a secret. Hongi is devastated by this, and screams at the warrior. The two separate, but the warrior has a vision from his ancestors that convinces him to continue helping Hongi.
Percy is a good writer who, though a bit over-dependent on repetition and long, list-y sentences, gives surprising depth to both his characters and his world. The weirdness he plays with is doled out slowly, and the dead world he brings us to feels believably dead. His two-line description of a television set with the screen smashed in, dolls and action figures set up among its innards like a diorama, did more to root me in his broken world than any 20 pages of nightmare scene-setting done by a lesser writer.
The Dead Lands cover quite a large area, easily as big as the entire Tablelands. Secrets of the Dead Lands is part of a 4 part series of books meant to describe in detail not only the unique undead of Athas, but the ancient nations of countless undead lurking on the Obsidian Plains just to the south of the Endless Dunes.The four books in the series are divided by content:
To compliment the now completed Dead Lands boxed set books (listed below), Terrors of the Dead Lands has had several improvements. Several new images have been added, as well as a new type of undead (Thinking Skeletons).
The Dead Lands cover quite a large area, easily as big as the entire Tablelands. Secrets of the Dead Lands is part of a 4 part series of books meant to describe in detail not only the unique undead of Athas, but the ancient nations of countless undead lurking on the Obsidian Plains just to the south of the Endless Dunes. The four books in the series are divided by content:
In episode one, our two lead characters meet and Mehe pushes Waka to help save her tribe. With this, we get two colliding stories. Waka is alone, pushed out of the land of the dead where he belongs, carrying the news that the ancestors have chosen to punish humans, and not just him, for their deeds. Mehe knows that there something wrong. The land is pushing her tribe out, while bird suffers unnatural death, she tries to use them to warn her family, to no avail. But when monsters attack and kill members of the community including her father, everyone, including Mehe and Waka learn first hand why they need to fear what the dead have sent after them.
The Giant's Lair is a dark room that resembles a human's kitchen and dining room, with giant objects that resembles the ones found in Forsaken Lands as well as rocks and dead bushes scattered around.
The Warrior, also known as the Monster of the Dead Lands, is the anti- heroic deuteragonist in New Zealand's 2014 film: The Dead Lands. He is lord of what is now known as the Dead Lands, the lands of a once powerful tribe that was extinguished overnight. Since that time, The Warrior would hunt down, kill and eat anyone who entered his territory. He forms an alliance with the film's protagonist, Hongi, to hunt down Wirepa's tribe who slaughtered Hongi's clan and intrude on The Warrior's land.
Hongi leaves and attempts to track down Wirepa. On the way, he discovers that Wirepa and his men have entered the Dead Lands, an area of land where any men who venture into are believed to be killed by a monster. Hongi, suspecting that the monster is in fact a man, tracks him down and, although reluctant, the monster agrees to help Hongi hunt down Wirepa. The monster is in fact a warrior (who is never named in the film) who was the sole survivor of a tribe that used to occupy the Dead Lands, and he kills anyone who ventures there to prevent his tribes historic lands from being occupied.
The Warrior was an unnamed master of warfare and a true monster that preyed on anyone foolish enough to wander into his lands. At the same time, he was a tormented soul who became a monster due to the horrific traumas he experienced and committed in his youth.
As of the events of the film, The Warrior is The Monster of the Dead Lands, a land ruled by him and the spirits of the dead. He and his wives, possibly the females of his tribe, lord over the land and cannibalize on any who wander through. The Warrior has a strained relationship with his wives, they are tied together and yet they are living dishonorable by their old tribe's standards.
When he was young, The Warrior was a far more civilized member of the tribe that Ruled over what would later be known as the Dead Lands. Like Hongi, the Warrior was asked by his father to make a blood sacrifice to in reparation to an enemy tribe. Unlike Hongi, who was asked to give his own life, The Warrior was asked to personally kill his own wife and children. Doing so drove The Warrior insane and destroyed his notions of honor, for what honor was there in him having to kill his family to make peace with an enemy? That night, The Warrior avenged his dead family by murdering the rest of his tribe their sleep. And so, the Warriors tribe disappeared overnight and he gained a dishonorable reputaion as the monster who slew his own clan.
The Warrior makes pragmatic use of his monstrous reputation and honorless persona. He is an extremely pragmatic fighter who can win over more honor driven foes. Also, he encourages his monster persona as it keeps other tribes from invading his land in force. This is why he kills all who enter his lands for he cannot abide anyone knowing that he is, in fact, human and not the demon his reputation makes him out to be.
Master of Psychological Warfare: The Warrior was a master of using his foe's mind against them in military encounters. He an expert provocateur, throwing off opponent's focus by getting them riled before a duel, usually with insults about a foes mother or sexuality. When Wirepa was gloating and angering Hongi by spitting on his Tane's head behind the fence of a fort, The Warrior was immediately able to turn the situation to his sides favor by implying that Wirepa was not a general holding a fort but a pig in a pen who would either starve or have to face off with the Warrior and Hongi. The greatest example of The Warriors master of psychological warfare is how he created his persona as the Monster of the Dead Lands. Doing so made possible invaders afraid to enter his lands and gave him a larger than life presence in combat.
Not so long ago Lewis believed in the end of the rainbow. A shire. An emerald city. Elysian fields. What his childhood storybooks promised. He believed, back when they first set out from the Sanctuary, that something arcadian awaited them. Not anymore. Now now. Not when he sees the bone-riddled ruins of Bozeman. It is not only the landscape that disappoints. It is humankind. Inside and outside the wall, humans remain the same, capable of wonderful things, yes, but more often excelling in ruin.
The Deadlands is a 2014 New Zealand film directed by Toa Fraser. After his father and most of his tribe is killed by a warrior from a rival tribe, orphaned teenager Hongi (James Rolleston) travels to the barren Deadlands in search for a legendary Māori warrior (Lawrence Makaore) so that he can avenge his father's death.Tropes:
Anti-Hero: The Warrior is a violent, petty, misanthrope who eagerly kills most anyone he comes across. The only reason he could be called heroic at all is because he (begrudgingly) helps Hongi avenge his father's death.
Badass Native: Everyone.
Big Bad: Wirepa.
Blade on a Stick: Hongi fights with a taiaha.
Braids, Beads and Buckskins: Being set in pre-colonial New Zealand, all of the Māori wear traditional native costume.
Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Members of Wirepa's tribe are distinguished by their green garments and matching haircuts.
Cool Sword: The Warrior wields a mere (an edged club carved from jade stone). Late in the movie Wirepa's men find some blades studded with shark teeth, which they use very effectively.
Cool Old Guy: Hongi's father, who cares for his family and tribe and tries to seek peace with Wirepa's tribe rather than start a war (it doesn't work).
Cruel Mercy: Hongi chooses to spare Wirepa instead of giving him an honorable death.
Don't Go Into the Woods: The Deadlands has a reputation for being a creepy and dangerous place.
The Dreaded: The Warrior, who kills and eats anyone who enters his lands, and is the main reason why people are so scared to enter the Deadlands in the first place.
Glory Seeker: Wirepa's quest for glory is what drives him to attack Hongi's tribe in the first place, kicking off the plot.
I'm a Humanitarian: Cannibalism is referenced multiple times, and several of the characters engage in it openly.
Magical Native American: Hongi can speak to the dead, and apparently The Warrior's wives can as well. Subverted as not only are Māori not Native Americans (though they fill the same societal role as an indigenous people), everyone in the movie is Māori.
Mentor Archetype: Hongi gets three over the course of the film: his father, his grandmother, and The Warrior.
No Name Given: Hongi's father, his grandmother, The Warrior, and Wirepa's father.
Our Ghosts Are Different: Hongi's grandmother, who appears to him in visions in order to guide him.
Revenge: After their village is ransacked, the surviving members of Hongi's tribe all beckon him to get retribution on Wirepa. He obliges.
The Good King: Hongi's father is rangatira of his tribe.
Pride: Wirepa's Fatal Flaw. He decides to walk through the forbidden Deadlands instead of around them, claiming that the spirits will be too in awe of him to do anything (making an enemy of The Warrior in the process). He refuses to listen to any dissenting voices even as more and more of his followers die, and even kills one of his own men for challenging him.
Proud Warrior Race Guy: Every character is this in some way, true to the warrior culture of the Māori. The film itself is a deconstruction of warrior societies and the obligations they force on members. Wirepa is so eager to achieve glory in battle that he defiles the remains of his own ancestors to give him an excuse to make war on Hongi's tribe. Hongi's father is willing to sacrifice his own son to pay recompense for this perceived slight, and his death at Wirepa's hands spurs Hongi to kill Wirepa in turn. The Warrior speaks against this mindset, claiming that there is no such thing as honor in battle and that anyone who says otherwise is either a fool or trying to fool others. The cycle only ends when Hongi spares Wirepa and sends him back to his village, preventing his next of kin from taking revenge.
Sixth Ranger Traitor: At the beginning of the movie the chief is betrayed by one of his own.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Two of Wirepa's warriors go off on their own after Wirepa enters the Deadlands, thinking the area's spirits will take revenge on him for disturbing them and that they should leave while they still have a chance (ironically, they're actually the first to be killed by Hongi and The Warrior).
Shout-Out: Hongi's demand of "blood for blood" is a reference to Utu, a 1984 film with a similar plot concerning the Māori custom of taking gruesome revenge on a dead family member's behalf.
Shrouded in Myth: No one knows the true story of the Deadlands, with most believing that the tribe who lived there simply vanished one day and that the warrior who stalks the area is a vengeful spirit turns out The Warrior is just a man, and the reason the tribe disappeared is because he killed them.
Spirit Advisor: The Friendly Ghost of Hongi's grandmother continues to act as his mentor after her murder.
Stone Punk: Neolithic technology plus the Warrior's intimidating mohawk.
Tattoo as Character Type: The Warrior's facial tattoos single him out as a veteran warrior, while Hongi's father's tattoos mark him as a man of high status.
Warrior Poet: Makaore's character is a Cultured Badass whose lines are reminiscent of Shakespeare's tragic heroes.
Weird West: The Deadlands are barren wasteland populated by ghosts and Outlaws.
You Killed My Father: It's Personal because Wirepa's betrayal of Hongi's tribe crossed the Moral Event Horizon.
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