The Trial of Elly Kedward

[Dan]

I'm well into Season Five for development. Last week I had shared on Facebook, and I meant it, that the upcoming Chapter 12 (Season Four) is without question the most profound chapter to date, that so-much-so it is the only one that has a personal note attached to it at the conclusion.

I also added that if I dropped dead after releasing Chapter 12, I would not regret not being able to take Elly's journey the full course. It's that profound and reveals a major turning point ion Elly's life.

Fortunately, Season Five is also well on its way, and I haven't plans on dropping dead.

There will be a Facebook Live event Chapter 12 is launched, expected next week.

[Anarchist86ed]

Fantastic.

[Tweek]

SPOILER: Click to show

How about that Chapter 12, eh? Elly's killed a man now. Well technically gravity and physics did, but she had a hand in it. No going back now. So would this count as the Blair Witch's first victim?

[Dan]

It's okay to spoil it, I think folks were hoping she would kill eventually (you sick fucks :-) )

Yes, it would her "first kill," with significant ironies being not only her victim a priest, but a love interest at that.

In another irony, there are two deaths. Sister Phoebe's death is a result of Elly's actions. That is to say, Elly feels responsible for her death. As you can see, it was too late, there was nothing she could do to save her.

[Tweek]

There's a contest going on in the Facebook group. Check it out. You can win a few items from this season. Sadly the "Stay At Home" tea isn't among them. I could put that to good use...

[Dan]

Now it is October, the season of Blair Witch comes upon us, and with that welcoming all those new to her story, and of course those already familiar.

New members - you're soon to experience a perspective of Elly Kedward you may not otherwise have expected. Our story, or rather Elly's story, as shared in her own words, is of the woman in her own land, long before embarking to America and settling in Blair, Maryland. Elly Kedward, otherwise known as Eilis Kedward (her actual Gaelic name), was once a regular human being as any one of us, having breathed the same air we do, walked the same earth as we do, laughed, loved, cried and bled as we all do.

Yet her life was far from normal. From her infancy through childhood and adolescence to adulthood, Elly's like was profuse with struggle, challenge and perserverance. Were it not for her staunch faith, in all likelihood Elly would never have survived beyond childhood.

Though a few seasons and many chapters are ready to be seen, this is the time of year we traditionally start from the beginning. Elly's story is broken into chapters of her life, and we want each chapter savoured individually, be them revisited by current members, or as introduced to new members. The website itself will relaunch on October 19th, where the story begins from the top, where we revisit the chapters, then move on to an all new season that will not disappoint.

Until then, we begin with the context of what you're soon to experience in The Trial of Elly Kedward...

[geraniumkate]

Welcome back, old girl.

[geraniumkate]

Oct 8, 2020 12:55:15 GMT -6 geraniumkate said:

Welcome back, old girl.

Wait. To be clear, that's directed at Elly, not you, Daniel.

[FormallyBlair]

How am I now just finding out about this?! I'm in!

[Heather, taking a piss.]

GOOSEBUMPS.

[Dan]

Oct 8, 2020 16:54:38 GMT -6 FormallyBlair said:

How am I now just finding out about this?! I'm in!

I certainly hope the series makes you proud.  Glad to have you with us FormallyBlair .  It's great (and hopeful) to meet new viewers (and with gratitude to have new viewers), yet it also creates an anxiety in fear of (potential) disappointment (that is always a risk in reality of any production, yet one must persevere lest nothing emerges).   If there is one thing we have learned in this story, is to not at all assume anything, and to not expect a Hollywood formula.  This is not Hollywood.  This is Elly's story, the circumstances of which you will soon learn.

Oct 10, 2020 0:46:03 GMT -6 Heather, taking a piss. said:

GOOSEBUMPS.

So glad you wrote that, and thank you for doing so, that one word sums up a lot over here.   There were many a goosebump within many a page, chapter and scene in Elly's story to date. That is one of the greatest driving forces, if not IS the driving force in staying the course in allowing each page to emerge freely, and as though each individual page was the most important page, to not take any period or experience in her life for granted, to allow it to fully bloom, be it as bright as summer's day, or as dark as the Black Hills at night.   And there are both.   She was a human being once, just as we all are, thus it is imperative that it's considered throughout the story.

Every step of her life is being savoured in presentation, and we've barely scratched the surface, already 15 chapters into it.   Though Chapter 15 is quite revealing to the path Elly falls upon, just when we think we have a grasp as to where her story is going, we have been met with a crossroads of a turn that can snap a neck in two. 

And what is coming next after a major roller coaster of a life thus far, is a turn that will not soon be forgotten, and I trust will not disappoint.

The more that comes to surface, the more I find myself continuously fascinated by her.  And I'm the fella presenting it.   I long since learned to "let go" and allow Elly's story reveal itself.

I'm just the messenger at this point.

[Dan]

I'm looking into possibly having all of The Trial of Elly Kedward narrated. Thoughts?

[Tweek]

Jan 5, 2021 13:57:11 GMT -6 Dan said:

I'm looking into possibly having all of The Trial of Elly Kedward narrated. Thoughts?

Sounds good to me.  Who would do the narration?  You?

[FormallyBlair]

A Narration? 100% Yes!

[Tweek]

Live event on the Facebook page tonight at 8pm Eastern!

[Dan]

Another live event this evening at 9:00pm (eastern time) on our Facebook GROUP (www.facebook.com/groups/ellykedward), "Adagio - Making the Soundtrack to Elly Kedward."

Following tonight's live-stream, we will be premiering Season FIVE finally, beginning with the never-before-seen Chapter Twelve.

The live-stream begins at 9:00pm eastern time on our Facebook Group, and Season Five will premiere online on our website at 9:15pm!

[Dan]

This evening, we launch Chapter Thirteen.

Without giving away spoilers, let's just say this is the chapter where much is revealed in the evolvement of Elly Kedward, where "My God, what happened to her?" is explained, where things take a dramatic turn for the worse...

[Tweek]

He's not kidding. Things go dark in spectacular fashion. Hang on to your hats.

Think she overreacted just a bit?

[FormallyBlair]

LET'S DO THIS!

[ark]

I have been a LONG time lurker of this forum and a fan of this series but I held on to exploring some materials such as The Trial of Elly Kedward until I could collect all the lore materials that came with the series such as the BW Files and Book of Shadows DA Stern, I managed to acquire them now.

So finally I want to get around to watching this series as I begin my chronological run through of Blair Witch.

First of all I am extremely uninformed about it’s production, so please excuse my ignorance here.

I believe one of the creators of the original movie is involved?

From what I can gather it was originally a text-based website, that was now replaced with a web-series. I see it states that this is a proof of concept so hoping this gets picked up one day. Would make a fantastic series for a streaming platform.
The series seems to be considered “canon” to the original? Is the lore of this series considered when third party productions such as Bloober games of Hunt a Killer get hold of the license?


I made some notes as I was watching the series. My notes are very SPOILER filled so if you HAVE NOT viewed this series yet please do so before continuing:

Note’s while reading Heritage;
Loving the detailed backstories given for Elly’s parents from their history to how they met, even explaining where the inspiration for Elly’s name came from in the grand mother. Very interesting that Elly’s father is from Wales (North, I am South Wales).

Is this an error here? It says that Ademmair “who did react well to his wife’s death” but he was despondent. Should it instead be “who did not react well to his wife’s death”? Or is it correct and he reacted well only he was despondent at times. Just thought I would mention it.
Haven’t even started the videos yet and already I want Elly to have good things come her way, being a BW fan though I know that’s not going to happen. Her birth was rough.

What is that Drifter’s deal? I know he did the right thing but took him long enough. He was going to leave with the door open! I’m still mad at him, I’m guessing this action was to represent the harshness of the world at that time.

So she did find someone in the priest who was a father figure, at least they had 7 years together. I guess it goes down hill again from there.

Notes while reading The Diary;
Bill Barnes you sneaky devil you. So many questions, why did he hide it? Where did he get it? Perhaps he found it in the woods, maybe the witch purposely left it for him, what happened to the missing pages? Are the missing pages Elly’s time in Blair? Does this mean the web-series won’t focus on her time in Blair? What was Bill’s goal with keeping it secret? Did he translate it? I always wondered if the witch might finally forgive and leave if people understood or sympathized with her story, so having her journal would go a long way to the resolve the curse. This is a brilliant twist, ready to get into the show now, the backstory and exposition was incredible, much like the original movie.

Notes from the series;
First of all the production levels are astounding, it is very well made and put together. I am very impressed by the visuals, storytelling, acting, everything really.

The text in prelude 2 states that Coilean didn’t know of the relationship between his daughter and Deiniol, but the text I read in the Heritage states that Coilean knew of their relationship and saw Deiniol as a son of his own. Just curious which one is correct?

Elly uses wooden stick men as soldiers to protect her and it appears she uses rock piles as a fort for them.

Is Elly laying in the grass her place of peace and is this represented by her displaying the disemboweled men at coffin rock?

I can already hear the anger and hate towards people when she describes her treatment in the orphanage.

I am sensing a theme here in that Elly find’s happiness but somehow it always goes awry. I can’t quite figure out if it is the people around her or Elly herself. She has been treated poorly but it seems like every time she turns a corner and finally starts to find some normality she maybe over reacts subconsciously to a certain event. Like the priest trying to escape, I understand she felt betrayal after being abandoned by her own parents and then she felt something for the priest who tried to escape.

Then during her time at Earsfield manor she poisoned her rival due to fear of being forced out but then left the manor anyway. Finally onboard the HMS Wandsworth, Elly once again made her way to respectable position but then the sailor (Was that Jack Davenport) did try to take advantage of her and he was cruel toward the other women. I can’t decide if she is justified in her actions or not, I see both sides one which says they deserved some form of justice, but murder? Maybe if she let things go she might not keep having to hit the restart button and work her way back up again, is it subconscious she keeps allowing herself to fall into these predicaments? Is she self destructive? The series is clearly extremely thought provoking and wonderfully told.

Cannot wait to see where it goes from here. Am really hoping we get to see her time in Blair and what leads to the events of her downfall with taking children's blood and being left tied up in the woods. Also very curious about these visions she is having of herself levitating in the woods, like a premonition to what is to come. If I had to guess the meaning I would say that originally she wanted to be the happy blonde girl in the fields (her happy place), however over time and the cruelness of the world that was inflicted upon her her happy place has now become this idea of a powerful entity in the woods. Somehow this became possible when she was sacrificed in Blair woods.

I must admit I was concerned that giving Elly a detailed backstory might take away the mystery of her character and the witch, negating the fear surrounding her. Only I found myself only appreciating the story and possible suggestions to why she became who she did. Don’t **** with Elly Kedward. She is only a small woman but already even before her supernatural powers she is a forced to be reckoned with.

Anyway fantastic work to everyone included with the series and I look forward to seeing more. Highly recommend this series as an essential to any Blair Witch fans. Thank you.

[Tweek]

The creator of the series posts on here and I'm sure he can answer your questions better than me. I am also enjoying the series very much. I've seen every version from the text-only site to the proof-of-concept series we have now. It's great to see how Elly's choices and life events move her along. She becomes a real person and not just some scary monster of legend.

Don't **** with Elly Kedward. Damn straight. Then or now.

[jmexplorations]

We have to catch up! this looks interesting!!!

[ark]

Thank you Tweek I take it that the creator is Dan?

Yeah I always sympathized for Elly but even more so now. Her entire life was awful from her birth to death. The main thing I felt with the series was whether Elly was justified or did she over react, it's like the ongoing theme of the series. I'm really rooting for her but it's hard to do so when she does what she does. It's really clever about making you second guess yourself.

JMExplorations it is a very interesting series, I binge watched it over two days and really enjoyed it.

[Tweek]

Apr 21, 2021 12:42:18 GMT -6 ark said:

Thank you Tweek I take it that the creator is Dan?

Correct

[Tweek]

New episode Sunday night!!!