#father thames

[sixth-light]

7, Lady Ty, Mama Thames, Father Thames

(ask meme! as a refresher)

7: go to a wedding with, go to a party with, go to a museum with

You would think I’d go to the museum with Father Thames, BUT I strongly suspect he would be deliberately mysterious about things and hence very annoying, so in fact I would go with Ty, who couldn’t stop herself telling me when she knows things. She’d probably know more about the artefacts’ provenance than their history but that’s just as interesting, frankly. 

I would go to the wedding with Mama Thames, because she would make it a great wedding and also, I feel, be a good outfit-judging partner. 

Which leaves: partying with Father Thames. Canon suggests he does a good party, so that works! I feel like people gravitating to him would mean I would not lack for conversation even if I didn’t know anybody.  

[birdylion]

Some time ago I pointed my friend to Rivers of London and they listened to the first audio book (in a translated and sadly abridged version - they didn't even include Peter's "conceived by the Force through midichlorians" joke and that's really easy to translate. And. Well, beside the point now).

They liked well enough and thought it was fun, but they brought up one point that was new to me. I hadn't previously thought about it:

They said that the Rivers' (esp. Mama and Father Thames') gender and characteristics were a bit too traditional for their taste:

The rough and coarse guys and the cunning and charismatic women.

They said this was a bit too much playing with gender clichés for their taste and I was surprised because usually between the two of us I'm more aware of stuff like that and I didn't think about it ... In the moment, I didn't have a reply and we left it at that.

So my question:

What do you guys think? Is this an impression you had, and if so, how do you think it relates to the story? If not then why not?

My guess here would be that their other characteristics - the generational conflict, the race aspect - are so much heavier. Also, it's quite a specific cliché, at least for me not a prototypical example of gender clichés.

[multitudeofmuses]

RIVERS OF LONDON SERIES by Ben Aaronovitch

~~ FANCAST ~~

Father Thames | Genius Loci / Old Man Of The River

"

Father Thames aka Baba Thames rules the Thames inland of Teddington Lock, and inhabits the Thames Valley. He is sometimes also referred to as the Old Man of the River. Like Mama Thames, many of his tributary rivers have Genius loci that manifest as his 'Sons'. He has the gift of prophecy because of his immense age, however Oxley warns Peter not to ask Father Thames questions directly as his insight often comes with a price.

"

Father Thames appears as a vigorous seventy year old man of short stature with a pinched face, Roman nose, and heavy brow. He dresses like a traveling showman and--like Mama Thames--has an extremely alluring glamour. Peter describes his vestigium as being redolent with beer, skittles, horse manure and walking home from the pub by moonlight. His power comes from the earth and weather in contrast to Mama Thames who draws her power from the ports and ocean. Before becoming Father Thames he was a Pre-Roman priest living in Londinium with the name Tiberius Claudius Verica. Peter encountered this version of Father Thames briefly during the final events of the Rivers of London. According to Mama Thames, when he was a young man he to stood on London Bridge and made a promise to the river much like herself.

SUGGESTED CASTING:

JEREMY IRONS ( 74 years old ) TIMOTHY SPALL ( 66 years old ) JOHN RHYS-DAVIES ( 79 years old ) BILL PATERSON ( 78 years old ) BILL NIGHY ( 73 years old ) CIARÁN HINDS ( 70 years old )

[mysterious-secret-garden]

Father Thames, from Punch, 1858.

[mizstorge]

The Rivers of London fandom may be interested in the shop of the Museum of London’s “Secret Rivers” collection. I’m definitely going for the Thames: Liquid History and DIvine Walbrook badges.  Lots of related non-fiction, too!

[boo-setsu]

Part 2 of Rivers of London portraits Mother and Father Thames Part 1 (link) Part 3 (link) ||And since I forgot about fancast talk, now is the time. Mother Thames is inspired by Loretta Devine, she can be really glamorous. ♥ Father Thames — somewhat by Peter Stormare (plus 30 odd years. I mean). Nightingale is totally Paul Mcgann. I’ve seen different interesting fancasts (most amusing is Julian Rhind-Tutt, it keeps cracking me up). But. You know how Aaronovitch described Nightingale in RoL really similar to how Eighth Doctor’s writers describe him in EDA books? Seriously. And look at Mcgann’s precious face. Alfred Enoch isn’t my favorite Peter candidate, but he is fun do draw so this one was mostly Enoch-inspired. Lesley have a lot of candidates, but for some reason I always see her with short or shortish hair. I don’t really know about Molly. It’s unexpected but I have hard time making any adequate fancast for her.||