[Tatterdemalion]

I always picture them as wolves.
But this is my failing. Basically my imagination flagrantly disregarding Erikson's text.

A note on covers:

I'm a professional copyeditor, of sorts, and am studying editing and book publishing as a whole. One thing I learned fairly quickly was that authors and creators have ZERO say on the cover 100% of the time. You would think after selling a bazillion books, Robert Jordan could say "Hey, let's not totally ruin the cover this time," but no, he can't, and nor can Erikson interfere with what is solely considered a duty of the publisher. The cover is not part of the story, it's a tool to sell books, and since selling books is hard, you can imagine the importance of hooking casual readers with visuals. Now, I always barf when I see generic fantasy covers, so sometimes I don't understand what publishers are smoking when they choose SHEE-NA, THE DRAGON-LADY SLAYER OF THE FIFTH WIND, SWORDBREAKER or some such - with a hugely busty long-haired woman wearing steel undergarments fighting a lizard man wielding a gun and riding a werewolf. These don't appeal to me, nor any of you, I'd imagine. But that's just the way covers are. So don't worry too much about if the hounds look like wolves - just try to be better than me by imagining them as hounds and disregard the bad-ass wolf on the cover of Toll the Hounds.

I think Erikson got kinda lucky, even. Some covers are wicked awesome, especially the mostly dark (TOR?) ones. Reaper's Gale is my favourite.
But it shows the power the artist has: a generic and awful cover can make even Whiskeyjack look like some jerk on a hill.

This post has been edited by Tatterdemalion: 16 December 2009 - 12:49 AM

[D'rek]

Tatterdemalion, on 16 December 2009 - 12:46 AM, said:

[...] a lizard man wielding a gun and riding a werewolf. [...]

I'd buy that...

[Juvenis]

Tatterdemalion, on 16 December 2009 - 12:46 AM, said:

I think Erikson got kinda lucky, even. Some covers are wicked awesome, especially the mostly dark (TOR?) ones. Reaper's Gale is my favourite.
But it shows the power the artist has: a generic and awful cover can make even Whiskeyjack look like some jerk on a hill.

Nice post by the way I agree with you, I think enormous wolves is more badass than enormous dogs. They seem faster and more agressive....and I think you are thinking of the Bantam covers. The TOR covers, though some are still cool in my opinion, they're usually closer to the generic goofy fantasy covers of most other books.

[Hetan]

But the Hounds are like wolves - at least the Hounds of Shadow. The Hounds of Darkness are more like bear-wolves.

Dunno which covers you are referring to though - US or UK? Some of the older UK ones were great. My favourite is below :-

 700_DG.jpg (180.89K)
Number of downloads: 3

thanks and © Steve Stone for the image

[Juvenis]

Yeah, I personally thought the Hounds of Shadow were wolf-like...I picture pretty much every (capital h) Hound to be wolf-like. But not because of the covers.

[Treefork]

I always kind of imagined the hounds to be different color variations of a dog like the dogo argentino. Just a large badass dog tearing up enemies. (or whoever)

Edit: I tried attaching a picture but I think I screwed it up.

This post has been edited by Treefork: 27 December 2009 - 04:28 PM

[alt146]

I've always pictured the hounds as angry boerboels on steroids. They look like this by the way:

 images.jpg (3.4K)
Number of downloads: 3

And I can understand some people dont find the concept of 'big dog' that scary, but my friend's uncle has a boerboel 'puppy' who's shoulder comes up to my hips and it's scary as hell - it looks as if it could bite clean through my thigh if it was inclined and you can feel it growling from several metres away... If I ever came face to face with a heavily muscled dog that was as tall to the shoulder as I am I would probably shit my pants, so the description work's perfectly for me.

[Treefork]

[quote name='alt146' date='27 December 2009 - 12:15 PM' timestamp='1261934100' post='714315']
I've always pictured the hounds as angry boerboels on steroids. They look like this by the way:



That's a pretty good one too. Just a big dog, with a gigantic head and a heavily muscled torso.

[EsotericForest]

I think the UK and the US covers are both very good, I agree that Erikson is lucky in that respect.

[serke]

I've always pictured Hounds to look like huge, more muscular versions of pharaoh or ibizan hounds. I've no idea how to link photos, but they look a lot like jackals in shape and head, but larger. Large, pointy ears.

[K'Chain Bull'shite]

I see them as definitely wolf-like. If you think about the process that produced the range of modern domestic dogs (all of whom are descended from the grey wolf, incidentally) it's unlikely in the extreme that anybody (avoiding spoilers from Toll) would have been trying to achieve some specific 'look' with the HoS, breeding brothers to sisters and back to parents etc...The main focus would have been on intelligence and loyalty while retaining their inherent savagery and strength. They would have been hunting and guard dogs, not prancing show animals. Indeed, as somebody already mentioned, the HoS are quite varied in appearance, what you would expect from mutts, not so-called 'purebreds' (read:inbreds) The Hound on the cover of Toll (Bantam) works very well for me

edit: found this quote from mappo regarding the ay:

Quote

"An ancient wolf, from the age of the Imass. Their blood line was harvested in the shaping of the Hounds of Shadow

and a description of baaljaag, the ay from MoI:

Quote

'Baaljagg had a face longer and narrower than the timber wolves the scout recalled seeing in Blackdog Forest. At the shoulder the creature beside him had two, maybe three hands on those formidable northern wolves. Sloping brow, small ears, with canines to challenge those of a lion or a plains bear. Broadly muscled, the animal nevertheless had a build suggesting both speed and endurance.' (MoI uk mmpb p. 306)

This post has been edited by Bre'nigan: 06 January 2010 - 11:46 AM

[K'Chain Bull'shite]

sorry for the double post, but I found another quote relevant to this discussion, about ay being domesticated by the Imass. Coupled with the quote added to my last post, i think there's some pretty compelling evidence for the HoS looking a lot like the ay...

technically a spoiler for DoD, but I can't see how it would spoil anything of the story:

Spoiler

Tool recalling Imass hunting:

Quote

, the skeletons of ay that had been dragged over the cliff's edge in their zeal – the wolves' canines filed down to mark them as pups found in the wild, too fierce to leave their massive fangs in place

[EsotericForest]

serke, on 05 January 2010 - 02:27 AM, said:

I've always pictured Hounds to look like huge, more muscular versions of pharaoh or ibizan hounds. I've no idea how to link photos, but they look a lot like jackals in shape and head, but larger. Large, pointy ears.

First...here's a picture for you.



Now that is a breed of hound that I could deal with a little better...since their genetics haven't been altered as much as say...a bloodhound or daschund. That being said...if you go with some of the more "pure" strains of hounds like the Saluki, or Pharoh Hound...their whole thing is all about having a narrow build because they're built for speed...not power.

Heck...maybe we should be looking closer at the Irish Wolf Hound, but just a little more bulky...even seem to have the right coat coloration going on.

[rhulad]

I've always pictured them as a cross between an Irish wolfhound, Rottweiler and Grizzly Bear.

[EsotericForest]

I'm kind of taking a liking to the Irish wolfhound idea...perhaps a cross between an irish wolfhound, a wolf, and a American staffordshire. I should try to draw up what I'm picturing.

[D'rek]

Saw the Polish TtH cover today with yet another depiction of the Hounds:

 Polish TtH full.jpg (339.47K)
Number of downloads: 6

I like this one, even if they do look half-ferret.

This post has been edited by D'rek: 15 January 2010 - 04:19 AM

[Dogbrother]

I picture them as large dogs. Probably because 'dog' in Swedish and German is 'hund'. Same germanic root for the word. If SE meant 'wolf' he'd had written that.

In my mind they look like American Bulldogs / American pitbulls / Rottweilers. Heavily muscled and fierce.

[Epiph]

That last one looks waaaaay to pleased with life to be any sort of inspiration for a Hound.

[Vaine]

I assume some of you have played Dragon Age: Origins, my mind-image of a Hound of Shadow is pretty much exactly like that of a Mabari Warhound, perhaps slightly sleeker.

This post has been edited by Vaine: 05 March 2010 - 05:40 PM

[EsotericForest]

Cleary whoever did the art for the Polish cover is a decent artist...unless it comes to drawing a dog...those hounds are terribly done I must say.