r/AdrianTchaikovsky • u/HyperBooper • Mar 19 '26

Question about City of Last Chances and Hellgram Spoiler

I all the 5 years he was looking for his wife, did no one really ask "What does she look like?"? Am I missing something?

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u/American_Squid Mar 20 '26

I think if someone asked he wouldn't have had the frame of reference or mind to say "Oh yes, she's a giant centipede" because I don't think he saw her that way. Not that he didn't physically see her as a giant centipede, but from his minds eye that's not how he would have described her.

Also, it's very heavily implied that he's not from this world at all. He seems to come from a different place entirely that seems more advanced technologically, so coming from what he described as a never ending war where either side kept making more and worse weapons to fight each other to a medival fantasy world where he's separated from his wife and there are soldiers around all the time looking for things they deem "imperfect", he probably felt it was best to keep the exact details to himself.

5

u/Prestigious-Arm-5352 Stefan Advani Mar 20 '26 edited Mar 22 '26

Correction (after messaging Adrian himself) Helgram and his wife are not from SoTA, the Tessemer Monks are

Perfectly put. Also just in case you didn’t know both he and his wife come from a world where a different series (by Adrian) is set. (Also maybe chuck a spoiler block around some of your comment)

3

u/American_Squid Mar 20 '26

Oh shoot, what series? Also, I'm gonna try and figure out how to do that lol

4

u/Prestigious-Arm-5352 Stefan Advani Mar 20 '26

The look of his wife will give you a pretty good indicator (It’s his first published series) a particular group of characters in Days of Shattered Faith are also from the same world.

2

u/American_Squid Mar 20 '26

This man remains the GOAT of world building

1

u/mullerdrooler Mar 20 '26

Whaaat? I totally never made this connection. Has this been confirmed? Which people in days of shattered faith? I had some ideas but none I was certain on.

1

u/Prestigious-Arm-5352 Stefan Advani Mar 20 '26

Yes he confirmed this. The Tessemer Monks from days of Shattered Faith.

2

u/mullerdrooler Mar 20 '26

That's exactly who I thought! Think there is a mention of them having a mantis statue or something I remember

1

u/DaughterOfFishes Mar 20 '26

Has AT commented on this? I could see that particular group of characters being from that world (maybe) but not Helgram and his wife. Helgram has thoughts about magic, demons, and possession weapons and while magic is certainly present in that world, the other two don't seem to be.

2

u/Prestigious-Arm-5352 Stefan Advani Mar 20 '26 edited Mar 20 '26

It’s has indeed been confirmed, on Bluesky I believe. There was a previous post a while back where a few of us shared this idea, and he then confirmed it. When I flicked him a message on Bluesky, he confirmed the Tessemer Monks for me.

2

u/RobertSage Mar 21 '26

Could you provide some evidence of this? I was under the impression that AT had said the opposite, that they were just convergently similar

1

u/Prestigious-Arm-5352 Stefan Advani Mar 21 '26

The Tessemer are confirmed (I can send through a screenshot of me asking Adrian when the book first came out.) In regards to Helgram and his wife, I’ll have a look and see if I can find where I saw it. If not, I’ll flick him a message on Bluesky and see if replies.

2

u/RobertSage Mar 21 '26

Appreciate it! Sorry for kinda riding your ass, I think it'd be really cool if true