I recently began rereading all of the Green Ember books in order for the details to be as fresh as possible in my mind when Ember's End comes. Here are some of my thoughts related to rereading, and other things that have come up.
1. Other animals; rereading GE with the fact in mind that references to other animals have been since omitted makes me kind of wish it hadn't changed. I feel like Jupiter's diplomacy united Great Wood would be more meaningful if there were other animal groups/communities to be dealt peacefully with, since the wolves and preylords aren't exactly the negotiating type. Also, Pick, Heather, and Smalls must have been chased by something non-wolfish through Seven Mounds... (In my mind, there are still other animals out there)
2. Kyle's irony; so many of Kyle's "lies" are actually true. Basically all of the non-ridiculous claims he makes are proven true in EF.
3. Heather and Picket's sheltered lives; the stories they heard from their father about King Whitson, Blackstar, etc. must have been fairly modified, if they didn't know about the Ruling Stone or Green Ember. I wonder why? Too specific and relatable to King Jupiter, maybe?
4. Smalls and Wilfred; it sounds like they lived the the Great Wood for some time before fleeing to the wider world (eventually coming to Nick Hollow). How could they have had protection at all in Great Wood? Was Smalls' possession of the Green Ember not known? We could definitely have a side series about those two.
5. Nostalgia; I got chills when I read the prologue for GE. It's crazy to think how big of a part in my life these books have played for the past 5 years. I remember first finishing book 1 and not being able to wait to find out what happened next. Here we are now, and the entire series is actually ending! It's crazy!
I’d say there are still other animals, they’re just not especially prominent. The creatures from Seven Mounds were probably low level muscle in Morbin’s empire or even mercenaries. Yeah, it’s funny how much truth-or what Kyle perceived as truth-he let slip. Ican’t help but wonder if the stories weren’t handed down in the same form we get in The Tales of Old Natalia.
Clearly some information became lost or garbled along the way, as we see in the accounts of Flint’s sword. We know from Wreck and Rise that Whitson recovered it after Vanguard sank. By contrast, when it’s discussed in Ember Rising the rabbits think it could have ended up at the bottom of the river or was lost with the Grimbles’ community-and in Wreck and Rise we see they never even got to FOUND a community. It may indeed be, of course, that Whittle withheld some information; they evidently didn’t know Blackstar’s oath at any rate if the Green Ember never came up.
Wilfred and Smalls’ pre-Green Ember history certainly would be interesting. I figure Smalls’ possession of the Ember must not have been known with surety for a while. Even assuming there were some protocols in place like what Whit used to get an audience in Ember Rising, I doubt Dagglet or Falcowit would have cared. Of course, it seems like there were more vocal dissidents and active resistors in the early days, so Wilfred and Smalls may have had some allies.
There's also more reference to prayer in EF, in a scene where Picket is confiding with Heyward about his dangerous advice to Smalls.
Other things I've noticed: -"Randalgam's History of War"; a reference to Randall Goodgame, no doubt. -Lord Jaymin, mentioned in Black Star, is probably a reference to Jamin Still, another friend of Sam's -Prayer IS mentioned in both GE and TBSoK. I think there was a discussion about that a while ago...
I know, I'm exited but yet sad. I really hope he comes out with more side books or even a whole other series non GE based.