| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Theodore |
Posted - 23 Jun 2020 : 03:42:38
If you have three what are three moments for you where an event in the realms changed your life or had a major impact on you?
My Personal List as Follows
1. Ascendancy of the Last - The death of Eilistraee hurt me very bad for years.
2. Condemnation (War of the Spider Queen) - The betrayal at the pillars of woe is one of the greatest battles I have ever read to this day.
3. A thousand Orcs - The Dwarves of Mirabar revolting to free Toregar Delzoun Hammerstriker from the prisons of Mirabar. |
| 13 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 25 Jun 2020 : 05:16:34
quote:
Originally posted by Irennan
The SCAG mention that (her greatest accomplishment was faking her own death or something along those lines), but I haven't checked that book since 2015, so I might be misremembering.
I checked. It leaves the whole thing vague as to whether or not she was actually dead.
...Which is to be expected; the goal of the current crop of designers seems to be "don't nail down anything at all unless we're actively using it in an adventure." |
| Lord Karsus |
Posted - 25 Jun 2020 : 04:40:51
-I mean, it wouldn't necessarily be the first time with her lol. Her death and the uncertainty around it is one of the things I like that happened with the Time of Troubles. |
| Irennan |
Posted - 24 Jun 2020 : 19:11:43
The SCAG mention that (her greatest accomplishment was faking her own death or something along those lines), but I haven't checked that book since 2015, so I might be misremembering. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 24 Jun 2020 : 19:09:38
quote:
Originally posted by Irennan
Leira, maybe, since she feigned her death apparently (according to new lore).
Where does it say she faked her death? I thought her return was another of those hand-waved "hey, I'm back!" things like they did for so many other deities. |
| Irennan |
Posted - 24 Jun 2020 : 19:04:16
Leira, maybe, since she feigned her death apparently (according to new lore). Mask was "dead" at the time, tho, and Riven has now taken his place. I really doubt he is involved in any way. Especially when Ed explained how Mystra was involved in helping Eilistraee and Vhaeraun survive, and not merely return (which also ties to the fact that she's currently sharing the Weave with Eilistraee, among others). |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 24 Jun 2020 : 18:55:18
Like many here, the revealing of the Spellplague at the very end of GHotR, in all its issues was one, which rode kind of hand in hand with the Undead Trilogy about Thay. I will not say I went so far as to throw my book. I will also say too that the one thing from that series that I really respected was that they didn't portray all Thayans as muahahahahaha evil people. The idea that the griffonriders were noble, loyal folk who simply saw themselves as protecting their homes for instance was an important portrayal to me. That's the way I've always pictured Thay is that the average person wasn't bad, it was the leadership... and even amongst that leadership, there were folks like Lauzoril that I saw as not necessarily all snidely whiplash bad.... he's evil … he wants to see his country win out for the bettering of his countrymen. Tam used to be another leader that I saw in the same light, and I totally blame the artifact in changing him with its curse, along with his jealousy of his competitor taking control of the portfolio that he's Zulkir of. I also blame Leira (and possibly Deneir) for providing that book of lies (the Tome of Fastrin the Delver) about how he could reform the world.
I will also say that initially, when Bane died in the Time of Troubles, it had a big impact on me. I saw him as a great villain (and still do), and so just "throwing him out with the bath water) was something I didn't like seeing. But then I saw Eric's work on Iyachtu Xvim, and I was coming around to that... when all of a sudden Bane was back. I still hold to Wooly's idea that that wasn't Bane, but Xvim posing as Bane. I hold to the idea though that a LOT of gods may have gotten swapped around in the past few centuries, and exactly who is who now is questionable.
BTW, on THAT topic, I wouldn't be surprised if some drow deities that are "back" aren't some kind of impersonation by other deities in some form. For instance, Zinzerena and Malyk….. I could buy that Leira and Mask have both taken over those personalities, in service to returning Mystra to power. They may have TRIED to get Vhaeraun's personality as well, but Lolth may have done something to keep it from them, but both may have been involved with returning Eilistraee to "life" which would have possibly separated out Vhaeraun.
Another twist we COULD put on things is that IF some gods went to Abeir as I've posited in the past, the ONE thing we can definitely say is that Lolth got SPLIT into multiple entities literally just prior to the spellplague AND formed a new divine domain that was outside the abyss. Then the spellplague happened, and I want to say that all the lore in 4e discusses her as an abyssal goddess. So if the idea that certain divine domains literally detached from Toril and attached to Abeir (Dweomerheart, Zigguraxus, Leira's Courts of Illusion, the spirit world of Maztica, the Supreme Throne of Cyric, Heliopolis, etc...), then perhaps so did this separate demonweb pits. Thus "lolth" could have been active in both worlds (and might have been acting a little like someone whose gone a bit insane).
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| Lord Karsus |
Posted - 24 Jun 2020 : 01:27:38
-Hmm, that is a good point.
-Shadowrealm, I guess, the last book in the Twilight War trilogy was the last one that I liked. Enjoyed the whole plot line and enjoyed seeing everything come to a conclusion. I read the first book of the Abolethic Sovereignty books and it just didn't feel like it was for me. Also read the Chosen of Nendawen series, but I don't actually remember if it was just the first one or the first and the second. I was mainly reading it for information about Lythari and Elven words, but the story just didn't hook me and when it became apparent that these Lythari were not really connected to the race as a whole, my interest just kinda faded away.
-Lol, I found my review of it: http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=15231 |
| Seravin |
Posted - 23 Jun 2020 : 23:59:44
Ayrik, we're like Realms brothers...same feelings from the same book. Must be a few like us. Haven't forgiven the author on my side though, when I recently read he didn't bother to read the other novels set in Thay before he wrote The Haunted Lands trilogy I was even more disgusted. Talk about disrespecting the shared setting. |
| Ayrik |
Posted - 23 Jun 2020 : 23:45:45
quote:
Originally posted by Seravin
The Undead Lands trilogy was the first time I just threw a book a way, and it signalled the End for me as a Forgotten Realms fan (of the current vision). Up until then I naively thought the setting was in good hands. Of course, we all know what happened next ...
It upset me quite a bit to see the Realms I love thrown away.
Exactly what happened to me. The first (and only) time I've ever hurled a book away from me in rage. I eventually calmed a bit, recovered the novel and resumed reading with a seething hope that it would somehow fix everything before the trilogy completed. But I realized at the end that my Realms had reached the end and were gone forever. I felt they were vandalized and left to languish under an incompetently greedy yoke. I later forgave the author and placed the blame squarely on his corporate overlords, but it took time.
So it was "a life changing moment" for me, insofar as it made me reevaluate the place the Realms and D&D once held and would hold in my life through the future.
To this day this experience causes me to remain wary of authors who are "sellouts". I try to question their motivations from each author's individual perspective and consider the contexts which confine their works, some I can respect and others I can only judge quite harshly. This "enlightened" cynical perspective is something I've always cultivated, but forced Realms "timejump" accelerated and honed the process, for which I suppose I'm thankful. |
| Lord Karsus |
Posted - 23 Jun 2020 : 20:17:29
-They're definitely not throw away, schlocky fantasy, but none have ever had an impact on my life other than "I like the world and like reading about it". I mean, I've met and made friends and relationships and stuff like that because of it all, so in that way sure, but no individual book ever gave me a "eureka" moment. The Song and Swords trilogy, with Elaith Craulnober, stand out as being probably my favorite because of his relationship with Arilyn and the tragedy there. Sentinelspire was another one I remember I couldn't put down and read really fast cause it was fun. |
| Irennan |
Posted - 23 Jun 2020 : 12:36:58
Yeah, Ascendancy of the Last too, but it was more the absolutely sh*tty and false portrayal of Eilistraee and her followers by Smedman and Athans (continuing their false portrayal from their books in WotSQ), the gross stuff associated to her (seriously, forcing a race change on a few hundreds drow, no matter their will, and leaving all the rest to rot. Forcing her people to give up a part of their identity just so thaat they would conform to the Seldarine's idea of what is acceptable, because their choices in life weren't enough? Not to mention the misandrism, the militarism, the using people as friggin' pawns, all the dogmatism, etc... after years of explicitly stating that Eilistraee strives to empower her people to find their own path, to help them rediscover the joy they were denied. All of this disturbing stuff associated with Eilistraee, of all deities?). It was ridiculous, and as it recently emerged from certain FR authors, this kind of treatment (only found in Smedman's/Athan's stuff)--that came to the point of sniping and subverting a lot of specific lines of lore about her--was intentionally meant to get people to dislike her. So glad that stuff was retconned into oblivion where it belongs, and that it doesn't have any influnece on the FR whatsoever. |
| Seravin |
Posted - 23 Jun 2020 : 12:32:45
The Undead Lands trilogy was the first time I just threw a book a way, and it signalled the End for me as a Forgotten Realms fan (of the current vision). Up until then I naively thought the setting was in good hands. Of course, we all know what happened next and I've not really enjoyed anything except the one Jack Ravenwild novel set in the post Spellplague world and the Ed Greenwood presents sourcebook. All my pleasure is from pre-Undead trilogy/smellplague times. It upset me quite a bit to see the Realms I love thrown away. |
| maransreth |
Posted - 23 Jun 2020 : 10:57:51
I would agree with those. Might swap A Thousand Orcs for when Cyric and Shar kill off Mystra.
Even though I knew Lloth would win, I was rooting for Eilistrae.
The battle when the wizard used a delayed blast fireball in a freezing sphere - unbelievable and something I hadn't thought of before.
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