Do Elementals like Benight pop culture in the Terrian Chronicles?

Do Elementals keep up with pop culture, or is it all smoke and mirrors? In the Terrian Chronicles, the truth lies buried beneath tech, secrecy, and shadow games.

When you first meet Braden Hawk in Tarja Titan, he isn’t shy about his love for the Arizona Cardinals. But when Tarja exclaims she’s going to Hogwarts, Braden acts as though someone had to tell him about the Benight pop culture reference. This quip might’ve made you wonder whether Elementals in the Terrian Chronicles follow Benight entertainment to the extent originally implied, or if they cherry pick.

The Terrian Chronicles, unlike my other series, takes place in our world—just not quite the one you know. It’s set in an alternate timeline, and yeah, some readers have drawn comparisons to Harry Potter. In that series, witches and wizards seem to have all kinds of different takes on Muggle culture. But Elemental Society? It plays by a whole different set of rules.

So, how much do Elementals really know about Benight Society? And just how deep do they dive into pop culture and entertainment from the world they’re hidden within? That’s what we’re about to unpack.

More than the Wizarding World

Muggle tech in the Wizarding World

Just as a disclaimer, I am writing this article based on what we saw in the Harry Potter books, not the movies. So if you watched the movies only, you may be in for some small surprises as the Wizarding World in the books is much more archaic than it is in the movies.

Oh, and just so you know ahead of time, I have little faith that the TV show’s gonna do any good, so I’ll always be a books vs. movie guy.

Anyway, I already stated that the Wizarding World had varying takes on the Muggle World. And by varying, I mean, kids seem to have a much higher level than their parents. You see this with the Weasleys, where Arthur, despite his love of Muggle contraptions, has little understanding of them. Though he knows how to drive.

As far as cars go, some witches and wizards like them. Just as Sirius Black had a lust for motorcycles. But, the Wizarding World predominantly neglects any modern technology they deem unnecessary. For example, why bother with a car when you have Floo powder, a broomstick, or the ability to Apparate? I would prefer a broomstick as opposed to Apparition, just an FYI. 

Benight tech in Elemental Society

Okay, so Benight Society is practically the Muggle World in the Terrian Chronicles. But Elemental Society and the Wizarding World are night and day opposites.

Elemental Society’s technology’s actually more advanced than their Benight counterparts. They use holograms, internet, and television regularly. They also have technology greater than the most powerful Benight satellite. Most Benight war technology, unbeknownst to Benight Society, is Elemental-designed in this alternate timeline, which explains their sheer destructive power.

So basically, Elemental Society’s taken modern-day, 21st-century Benight technology, and enhanced it. It’s not surprising to see faster internet with no dead zones. Ditto for cell service, in which they confine all phones to watches capable of their users bringing up holograms.

As for vehicles, Elementals almost always drive sportier, or luxury cars, outlined by Braden Hawk’s Dodge Challenger and Caesar Hernandez’s Escalade. And while, like the Wizarding World, Elemental Society’s concealed from Benight Society, it’s easy to spot Elementals among their Benight counterparts simply because of the types of cars they drive.

Do Elementals follow Benight pop culture?

Elementals have their own entertainment outlets, but they follow Benight entertainment because their servers pick up Benight television shows, internet, etc.

That said, Braden Hawk doesn’t need to watch his Arizona Cardinals in Benight Society. He can do it right from his laptop in his office or even the hologram on his watch at Celestial University’s barracks.

Some Elementals prefer Benight entertainment over their own. Thrashball’s often seen as the Elemental pastime, with its roots going back tens of thousands of years until Caer Cymraeg modernized the game in the World of Eidolon (Cymraeg Tales, Elementals of Nordica). 

But it’s not uncommon to see Elementals follow sports like thrashball. So many, like Braden, will follow the NFL and NHL more than anything else.

In Tarja Titan, Tarja, at one point, wears an Arizona Diamondbacks shirt. But this was mostly from Braden’s overall love of Arizona sports as it’s often implied she cares little about sports and opts to wear the logo and colors of Arizona sports teams. Besides her usual gothic attire, of course. She does, however, root for the Cardinals when they’re playing.

As far as non-sports entertainment goes, Liza Fury once quoted her best friend, Daya Hernandez, loves reading Benight books, like E.E. Holmes’ World of the Gateway. A book series Liza also becomes a fan of.

Like the Wizarding World…

Overall, it really depends on how entertaining Elementals find Benight outlets. But other factors exist, like how much exposure someone has to Benight Society. And it’s something Tarja, Braden, and Liza all have in common.

While Tarja once compares Shyla West’s expression to being asked to sing onstage with Blackpink and Liza makes several Benight pop-culture references, they both grew up in Benight Society. Braden, who is half-Elemental, (supposedly) half-Benight, was barred from practicing his wind wielding because of his (supposedly) Benight father’s disdain for Elementals.

But if there is one thing Elemental Society does keep tabs on, young and old, it’s current events in Benight Society. This is because, since the World of Terra is our own world set in an alternative historical timeframe where conspiracies exist, Elementals make up the Benight deep state and shadow governments.

So when you read the Terrian Chronicles, you’ll know full well who really pulls the strings of Benight Society: the Elementals. Luckily, there are people like Braden Hawk hoping to unplug Benights to expose the truth that deep states, shadow governments, and conspiracies exist.

The problem is: He and others like him must do so without exposing Elemental Society. 

Benight pop culture and Elemental Society

Overall, some Elementals follow Benight pop culture to higher degrees than others. Still, they have on-demand access given their greater level of technology, juxtaposed by their ability to control one of the nine elements. Most Elementals will find just a niche worth of Benight entertainment, like the NFL, and follow it. They often don’t indulge themselves in Benight technology given the greater level of tech in Elemental Society.