Talk:The Testaments

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A news item involving The Testaments was featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the In the news section on 20 October 2019.

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Using TV show elements as canonical in "Plot summary" and "Characters" for the book without making that clear

I'm no doubt an outlier in having read the books without watching any of the TV series but, while acknowledging that there is an effort to keep the two aligned, coming from that perspective it is quite jarring to see stated as fact, without qualification, things that Atwood deliberately keeps ambiguous in the context of the books alone. From a Time article on the topic:

"Nowhere in The Testaments does it say that Daisy/Nicole and Agnes Jemima’s mother ever went by the name Offred. And the author herself won’t confirm. “We are pretty sure,” Atwood says. “But we don’t really know.”"

and:

"So, we have Agnes and Nicole as June/Offred’s daughters in the show. And Agnes Jemima and Nicole/Daisy as the children of a handmaid in The Testaments. Which means that if you read the two books and the show together, then yes, the two young narrators of The Testaments are Offred’s daughters. I suggest to Atwood that readers can choose whether they want to include the show in their reading of the two novels. She offers a very on-brand response: “I love choices like that.”"

As such, I'll just note here that I disagree with Bearcat's take; by all means draw upon material from the TV series to enrich the article but make it explicit where doing so. Ultimately, Atwood consciously and carefully opted in the book to maintain ambiguity and I would expect the article to acknowledge that.

--Truthy Stranger (talk) 22:47, 8 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Commander Judd

Just read finished the book, and I thought of adding Commander Judd, who's another instrumental character of the book:

One of the antagonists in the novel, Commander Judd was first mentioned in The Handmaid's Tale as one of the two possible identities of Offred's Commander. A high-ranking Commander, he was one of the few who orchestrated the coup against the United States and the establishment of Gilead. He was the one who recruited Aunt Lydia as an Aunt and tasked her to establish a 'Sphere' for women society, and Aunt Lydia in return reports to him on the Aunts' activities. It is stated in the book he has started to loss favour among the other Commanders, and wishes to marry Nicole to alleviate his political standing. A womaniser, he has secretly murdered a few of his previous wives, so as to get another one since divorce is outlawed in Gilead.

Will add the relevant citations soon if needed.--ZKang123 (talk) 03:05, 20 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

You're right. AalyansDancing (talk) 03:01, 26 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

aunt lydia

Was it intentional that aunt lydia was an antagonist in the previous book and an aunt agonist in this one? 65.229.28.177 (talk) 05:55, 15 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]