Trivia / The Eye of Argon

• Accidentally-Correct Writing: There is in fact such a thing as scarlet emerald, although it remains unknown if the author knew this, however.
• Corpsing: A meta-example in the parlor game where players attempt to read the story out loud while trying their hardest to keep a straight face. Just try it. You will fail.
• Creator Backlash : Theis complained that the damage the story was doing to his reputation was unfair considering he wrote it thirty years earlier at age sixteen. However, he was supposedly a good enough sport about it that he'd read it out at conventions.
• Creator Killer: Theis gave up on writing due to the mockery the story received.
• One-Book Author: Jim Theis died March 26, 2002, apparently of heart trouble. He was only 48, and the Eye of Argon is only one of two stories he's known to have written.
• Referenced by...:
  • In Ultima VIII, The Avatar can stumble upon the Ear of Arricorn, Volumes III, IV and VI. A copy can also be found in Deus Ex while you’re in Paris.
  • A recurring book from The Elder Scrolls series mentions the "Eye of Argonia" as a MacGuffin.
• What Could Have Been: In an interview he granted after the story achieved notoriety, Theis said that he was planning a massive rewrite, noting that - following the story's publication - he had been given constructive criticism from friends and had learned a lot about writing on his own. This new version never came. In the 80s, Theis granted another interview where he explained how the mockery and humiliation eventually got to the point where he decided to give up on the rewrite and on being an author entirely.

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