Ways of Darkness (cancelled cartoon)

The cartoon adaptation of Ways of Darkness was a planned animated cartoon project in 2016 by Zsolt Tóth, Zsolt Ábrahám, Kriszta and Péter Pataki. Ultimately, nothing was producted at all, even the plot itself was a subject of debate. The intended director and music composer was Zsolt Ábrahám. Had the cartoon been produced, its plot would have been canon.

Plans
Before being ultimately cancelled, the cartoon was planned to have ran an indeterminate amount of episodes, each spanning around 20-25 minutes, with possibly the first episode spanning the length of two episodes. The plot would have involved the characters Stephánus Tavilrond, Gnarog Dougfrál, Nemezish, Morthen Orden'Áth Ildor, Ladislaus Dominus, Arnélia Gervése and Crown Prince Markal of Etrand as the main heroes, and Ermenerd Brynling, Ashrám Wegnard, Ignátius and Dermaglen as the main villains. Other intended villains would have been various Winged Cobras (possibly including Green Sister), Gabyrians, undead from Keldorn and Demons. Planned easter eggs would have included things such as a medieval peasant munching on chocolate in the background.

Plot
The intended intro for the cartoon series would have involved minor narration about the detoriation of Etrand's relations with its neighbours, with the first episode depicting the Battle of Ancestors Field, only to cut into 831, saying "22 years later, Talon...", depicting a relatively idyllic life lived by Gnarog Dougfrál, Nemezish and Ildor. A planned plot point would have been the assassination of King Orlónius I of Etrand by Ermenerd Brynling, who would have desired the throne for himself, along with the hand of Orlónius' daughter Princess Izaverra. This would have resulted in a failed assassination of Crown Prince Markal, who would have faked the dead and escaped down to south, encountering the heroic party composed of Tavilrond, Dougfrál, Nemezish, Ildor and Ladislaus.

Brynling would have taken loans from Gabyr, but upon his failure to pay it back, the Gabyrians would have invaded with undead help, giving Ashrám Wegnard the opportunity to set his plans in motion. This would have coincided by a third Demonic Invasion, much more dangerous than the previous two. In the opportune moment, there would have been a rebellion led by the very-much-alive Prince Markal. At one point, the heroes would have ran into an abbey at fire, rescuing Arnélia Gervése, who - upon seeing the death of her master - would have joined the party, and eventually became the love interest of Stephanus Tavilrond.

The conclusion of the story would have been the defeat of the usurper Ermenerd, the banishment of the demons and undead from the continent, with the Gabyrians retreating too, Markal having been restored to the Etrandish throne.

Debates
Early on, there were debates about the plot, even about the genre itself. Zsolt Ábrahám wanted something more akin to Game of Thrones, with "at least 3 out of the 5 main heroes dying", while Zsolt Tóth insisted on all of the main heroes surviving the series, Kriszta saying that the Game of Thrones formula was overrated. In the end, it was agreed that instead of being GoT-style fantasy drama, it would be LoTR-style epic fantasy adventure.

There were also debates on which characters to be included, as Ábrahám intended to also include characters like Reyanna Rýger. Kriszta wished for the ommission of Winged Cobras.

There was also some debate on the graphical style of the cartoon, with Ábrahám favouring traditional western-style animation, Kriszta favouring more manga/anime style animation, and Tóth jokingly suggesting Stickmen and Vidman-style animation.