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jornan
Learned Scribe
Canada
256 Posts |
 Posted - 02 Nov 2011 : 19:47:05
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| Salvatore, did mention in an interview that he was writing a lot about drow again for book three, so I would expect their presence would also include Jarlazle and Bregan D'Arthe (sp?) |
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Caolin
Senior Scribe
769 Posts |
Posted - 02 Nov 2011 : 22:22:28
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quote:
Originally posted by Dennis
The Dread Rings in Thay had been rendered impotent in 1478 DR. That's 16 years after the supposed activation of the one in Neverwinter.
And again, why build it in the Sword Coast? To attract the attention of Telamont, the Chosen, and half of Faerun's most powerful beings so they could play poker?
I am actually quite annoyed by the fact that the Thayans are working so far from Thay. I'm not sure what the motive is for this. Did they feel like they needed someone strong enough to act as a foil to the Netherese? Are they just trying to cram in as many baddies into the area as they can to enhance gameplay? Either way it makes Faerun seem very small which i thought they were trying to get away from. |
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Mandarb Carai an Caldazar
Acolyte
17 Posts |
Posted - 03 Nov 2011 : 00:09:31
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quote:
Originally posted by Firestorm
quote:
Originally posted by Mandarb Carai an Caldazar
In regards to the Netherese influence in the north I suspect we'll get some insight into their organization in the next Neverwinter book as Dahlia will want to do her utmost to kill Alegni and Drizzt wont abandon her. At the same time, I suspect (and hope!) Paul Kemp will give us more information on the Netherese in general and Telamont and his sons specifically in his next trilogy.
A Drizzt/Dahlia/Artemis team-up would be VERY formidable if the events of the next Neverwinter book take the course I suspect they will.
I found the Luskan scenes a good backdrop for Drizzt to show that he's moving on from his losses and finding his adventurous center again. I had also just assumed they were foreshadowing for future events, I mean, Artemis is going to want to go there once he figures out Beniago has his dagger and not Alegni.
Does anyone think we'll be seeing Jarlaxle in the next book? The readers are the only ones who know he landed on a ledge and likely escaped destruction if for no other reason than he (likely) had a portable hole on him and rolled into an extra-dimensional pocket or something equally Jarlaxle-slick. I for one am not sure why Drizzt is so ready to accept that he's dead without seeing a body or trying to call his spirit back to ask.
Also, was anyone besides me baffled that Entreri seems to believe its been the sword keeping him alive all this time after that short-story wherein Jarlaxle explains that Artemis sucked some shadowstuff into himself after using his dagger on a shade?
Entreri wasn't implying that the sword was the reason for his longevity. Merely that he had been killed a few times, but the sword has the power to resurrect him.
Artemis talks about attempting to kill himself and Charon's Claw decieving him into failing. While he does say that the sword wont let him die in the mental intrusion sense he also talks about things like: "He should have died many years before. He'd lived two lifetimes, but he hadn't died. He remained vibrant, strong, and quick as ever. The sword wouldn't let him die." p.237 NA Hardcover.
That's the only solid reference I could come up with with a quick skim of the book, I don't have the time or the inclination to read through it again right now. However, I recall Artemis making similar statements, mental or otherwise. That passage is Entreri in contemplation with himself, ergo, he believes that Claw is keeping him alive contrary to what we know Jarlaxle told him and what he experienced when he used his vampiric dagger to kill a shade. Now, it occurs to me that he thinks Jarlaxle betrayed him to Alegni so maybe Artemis thinks he was lying, I'm not sure, whatever the reason, that's the way it's laid out in the book.
Edit: Thanks Dennis, when I tried to delete it previously I missed the part where it says the author has permission as well. |
For Manetheren! |
Edited by - Mandarb Carai an Caldazar on 03 Nov 2011 00:11:55 |
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jornan
Learned Scribe
Canada
256 Posts |
Posted - 03 Nov 2011 : 02:57:23
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I'm not quite finished the book yet, but out of all of Salvatore's Drizzt Saga this book seems to have the most glaring setup for the the D&D game and the new Neverwinter campagin setting in general than any of the previous books game related storylines.
I know that was kind of the point and they don't even try to hide it, but I can't help feeling like the presence of Nethril, Thay, Luskan's Pirate Lords, and the Abolethic Sovereinty all crammed into this book are there more to show "gamers" that there are plenty of intrigues and baddies to fight in Neverwinter. I also don't think Salavtore or WizBro has any intention of finding a resolution for any of them in the region because their presence is more about the game than the book series storyline or the meta-arc of the Drizzt Saga. |
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Dennis
Great Reader
9933 Posts |
Posted - 03 Nov 2011 : 03:44:40
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quote:
Originally posted by Caolin
quote:
Originally posted by Dennis
The Dread Rings in Thay had been rendered impotent in 1478 DR. That's 16 years after the supposed activation of the one in Neverwinter.
And again, why build it in the Sword Coast? To attract the attention of Telamont, the Chosen, and half of Faerun's most powerful beings so they could play poker?
I am actually quite annoyed by the fact that the Thayans are working so far from Thay. I'm not sure what the motive is for this. Did they feel like they needed someone strong enough to act as a foil to the Netherese? Are they just trying to cram in as many baddies into the area as they can to enhance gameplay? Either way it makes Faerun seem very small which i thought they were trying to get away from.
And it makes less sense, given that Szass Tam at that time was fighting a bloody civil war in Thay, where he needed all his available resources, living and undead. |
Every beginning has an end. |
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Merrith
Learned Scribe
135 Posts |
Posted - 03 Nov 2011 : 06:10:58
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quote:
Originally posted by Dennis
quote:
Originally posted by Caolin
quote:
Originally posted by Dennis
The Dread Rings in Thay had been rendered impotent in 1478 DR. That's 16 years after the supposed activation of the one in Neverwinter.
And again, why build it in the Sword Coast? To attract the attention of Telamont, the Chosen, and half of Faerun's most powerful beings so they could play poker?
I am actually quite annoyed by the fact that the Thayans are working so far from Thay. I'm not sure what the motive is for this. Did they feel like they needed someone strong enough to act as a foil to the Netherese? Are they just trying to cram in as many baddies into the area as they can to enhance gameplay? Either way it makes Faerun seem very small which i thought they were trying to get away from.
And it makes less sense, given that Szass Tam at that time was fighting a bloody civil war in Thay, where he needed all his available resources, living and undead.
Been awhile since I read the whole Undead trilogy but wasn't the majority of the civil war over much earlier? Hadn't the rest of the Zulkirs been pushed out leaving only a minor resistance element in Thay by this time? I thought there was a pretty large time gap between the end of the 2nd book in that trilogy and Unholy (3rd book). My memory could be foggy though. |
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phranctoast
Learned Scribe
USA
151 Posts |
Posted - 03 Nov 2011 : 13:30:18
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Spoliler-Haunted Lands trilogy
Yeah. The first two books were the Civil War. The Third book took place a 100 or so years after Civil War and the Spell Plague. |
Currently reading: Spider and Stone by Jaleigh Johnson: Sequel to Mistshore |
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Firestorm
Senior Scribe
Canada
826 Posts |
Posted - 03 Nov 2011 : 13:32:37
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quote:
Originally posted by Mandarb Carai an Caldazar
quote:
Originally posted by Firestorm
quote:
Originally posted by Mandarb Carai an Caldazar
In regards to the Netherese influence in the north I suspect we'll get some insight into their organization in the next Neverwinter book as Dahlia will want to do her utmost to kill Alegni and Drizzt wont abandon her. At the same time, I suspect (and hope!) Paul Kemp will give us more information on the Netherese in general and Telamont and his sons specifically in his next trilogy.
A Drizzt/Dahlia/Artemis team-up would be VERY formidable if the events of the next Neverwinter book take the course I suspect they will.
I found the Luskan scenes a good backdrop for Drizzt to show that he's moving on from his losses and finding his adventurous center again. I had also just assumed they were foreshadowing for future events, I mean, Artemis is going to want to go there once he figures out Beniago has his dagger and not Alegni.
Does anyone think we'll be seeing Jarlaxle in the next book? The readers are the only ones who know he landed on a ledge and likely escaped destruction if for no other reason than he (likely) had a portable hole on him and rolled into an extra-dimensional pocket or something equally Jarlaxle-slick. I for one am not sure why Drizzt is so ready to accept that he's dead without seeing a body or trying to call his spirit back to ask.
Also, was anyone besides me baffled that Entreri seems to believe its been the sword keeping him alive all this time after that short-story wherein Jarlaxle explains that Artemis sucked some shadowstuff into himself after using his dagger on a shade?
Entreri wasn't implying that the sword was the reason for his longevity. Merely that he had been killed a few times, but the sword has the power to resurrect him.
Artemis talks about attempting to kill himself and Charon's Claw decieving him into failing. While he does say that the sword wont let him die in the mental intrusion sense he also talks about things like: "He should have died many years before. He'd lived two lifetimes, but he hadn't died. He remained vibrant, strong, and quick as ever. The sword wouldn't let him die." p.237 NA Hardcover.
That's the only solid reference I could come up with with a quick skim of the book, I don't have the time or the inclination to read through it again right now. However, I recall Artemis making similar statements, mental or otherwise. That passage is Entreri in contemplation with himself, ergo, he believes that Claw is keeping him alive contrary to what we know Jarlaxle told him and what he experienced when he used his vampiric dagger to kill a shade. Now, it occurs to me that he thinks Jarlaxle betrayed him to Alegni so maybe Artemis thinks he was lying, I'm not sure, whatever the reason, that's the way it's laid out in the book.
Edit: Thanks Dennis, when I tried to delete it previously I missed the part where it says the author has permission as well.
And in the book, it also discusses how even if Artemis is killed in battle, the sword can bring him back. Since I lent it to a friend, I can't search for page number, but I distinctly remember reading that. |
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Therise
Master of Realmslore
1272 Posts |
Posted - 03 Nov 2011 : 16:55:59
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quote:
Originally posted by Mandarb Carai an Caldazar
Artemis talks about attempting to kill himself and Charon's Claw decieving him into failing. While he does say that the sword wont let him die in the mental intrusion sense he also talks about things like: "He should have died many years before. He'd lived two lifetimes, but he hadn't died. He remained vibrant, strong, and quick as ever. The sword wouldn't let him die." p.237 NA Hardcover.
That's the only solid reference I could come up with with a quick skim of the book, I don't have the time or the inclination to read through it again right now. However, I recall Artemis making similar statements, mental or otherwise. That passage is Entreri in contemplation with himself, ergo, he believes that Claw is keeping him alive contrary to what we know Jarlaxle told him and what he experienced when he used his vampiric dagger to kill a shade. Now, it occurs to me that he thinks Jarlaxle betrayed him to Alegni so maybe Artemis thinks he was lying, I'm not sure, whatever the reason, that's the way it's laid out in the book.
Just a comment here, since I've recently completed Neverwinter. Artemis knows that it's the shadow-stuff he absorbed (with his vampiric dagger) that is responsible for his extended life and youth. But it's Charon's Claw that can revive him should he die through combat.
I doubt that Jarlaxle betrayed him to the Netherese. It's possible, but the shadowvar were already hunting down Artemis earlier so they could retrieve Charon's Claw. Also, even though Artemis won his "battle of wills" with the Claw, it challenged him again when in the presence of a shadowvar (in the short story); so there's perhaps something about the sword that they can track. And once they decide to go after something, they don't do it piecemeal.
Interestingly, up until now we didn't know a whole lot about Charon's Claw, the extent of its powers and its history. I suspect we will learn a lot more with the third book. 
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Female, 40-year DM of a homebrew-evolved 1E Realms, including a few added tidbits of 2E and 3E lore; played originally in AD&D, then in Rolemaster. Be a DM for your kids and grandkids, gaming is excellent for families! |
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Mandarb Carai an Caldazar
Acolyte
17 Posts |
Posted - 04 Nov 2011 : 01:15:26
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To clarify, I'm not arguing that the sword could bring him back were Artemis to die, all I'm saying is he makes comments like the one I quoted wherein he seems to believe that his ability to live multiple lifetimes without losing vitality comes from the sword.
It could just be a case of discontinuity, I can't know for sure because we have no way of knowing exactly what was changed during the editing process; the sentence could've been easily changed to something about the torment visited on him due to the combination of shadow-essence and Charon's Claw with no loss of impact. I just thought it was a little odd. |
For Manetheren! |
Edited by - Mandarb Carai an Caldazar on 04 Nov 2011 01:16:11 |
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Therise
Master of Realmslore
1272 Posts |
Posted - 04 Nov 2011 : 01:47:05
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quote:
Originally posted by Mandarb Carai an Caldazar
To clarify, I'm not arguing that the sword could bring him back were Artemis to die, all I'm saying is he makes comments like the one I quoted wherein he seems to believe that his ability to live multiple lifetimes without losing vitality comes from the sword.
It could just be a case of discontinuity, I can't know for sure because we have no way of knowing exactly what was changed during the editing process; the sentence could've been easily changed to something about the torment visited on him due to the combination of shadow-essence and Charon's Claw with no loss of impact. I just thought it was a little odd.
I think it's more an issue of perspective. Artemis hates being enslaved to anything, and as such (enslaved to the sword/shadowvar) he had come to hate living. The comments he makes about the sword "not letting him go" and "not letting him die" every so often, they have to do with that feeling: he is too useful a tool to his masters, and because he's also infused with a little shadowstuff they also think of him as something they own. The sword keeps him tied to Alegni, and he has no defense against it. If he were to allow himself to die (which he thinks about periodically), the sword would raise him and he would still remain the puppet of the shadowvar. So his existence has been rather hopeless. It has stolen his will to live, his vitality, because he is enslaved without hope of an end.
Oddly enough, Drizzt represents for Artemis a possible freedom from the sword and the shadowvar. For the first time in 100 years, he has hope: not hope of death and release, but being allowed to live again freely from that hated control - if they can capture and destroy Charon's Claw.
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Female, 40-year DM of a homebrew-evolved 1E Realms, including a few added tidbits of 2E and 3E lore; played originally in AD&D, then in Rolemaster. Be a DM for your kids and grandkids, gaming is excellent for families! |
Edited by - Therise on 04 Nov 2011 01:53:31 |
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Yoss
Learned Scribe
USA
259 Posts |
Posted - 04 Nov 2011 : 20:29:28
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quote:
Originally posted by Therise
quote:
Originally posted by Mandarb Carai an Caldazar
Artemis talks about attempting to kill himself and Charon's Claw decieving him into failing. While he does say that the sword wont let him die in the mental intrusion sense he also talks about things like: "He should have died many years before. He'd lived two lifetimes, but he hadn't died. He remained vibrant, strong, and quick as ever. The sword wouldn't let him die." p.237 NA Hardcover.
That's the only solid reference I could come up with with a quick skim of the book, I don't have the time or the inclination to read through it again right now. However, I recall Artemis making similar statements, mental or otherwise. That passage is Entreri in contemplation with himself, ergo, he believes that Claw is keeping him alive contrary to what we know Jarlaxle told him and what he experienced when he used his vampiric dagger to kill a shade. Now, it occurs to me that he thinks Jarlaxle betrayed him to Alegni so maybe Artemis thinks he was lying, I'm not sure, whatever the reason, that's the way it's laid out in the book.
Just a comment here, since I've recently completed Neverwinter. Artemis knows that it's the shadow-stuff he absorbed (with his vampiric dagger) that is responsible for his extended life and youth. But it's Charon's Claw that can revive him should he die through combat.
Does that actually get mentioned in this book? I know it was tossed around for ages as a very likely excuse to keep from killing him off, but I didn't think anyone actually mentioned that in the entire book (other than Drizzt's observation when they finally met up with each other about his complexion being wrong). AS far as I understood, the last it was mentioned was under the 'he wasn't really sure what absorbing shadowstuff meant, and Jarlaxle didn't seem to know either' heading. Sure, it would be odd if he hadn't learned something of it in the last 100 years, but I don't remember that being mentioned. Quote or general area for me to flip through? |
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Copper Elven Vampire
Master of Realmslore
1078 Posts |
Posted - 17 Nov 2011 : 19:08:42
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| So is Jarlaxle dead or what?... just finished Gauntlgrym. |
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BEAST
Master of Realmslore
USA
1714 Posts |
Posted - 18 Nov 2011 : 01:15:10
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quote:
Originally posted by Copper Elven Vampire
So is Jarlaxle dead or what?... just finished Gauntlgrym.
Go back and read the Epilogue. He is very obviously not dead.
So I guess the answer to your question is "what".  |
"'You don't know my history,' he said dryly."
--Drizzt Do'Urden (The Pirate King, Part 1: Chapter 2)
<"Comprehensive Chronology of R.A. Salvatore Forgotten Realms Works"> |
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Neverwinter: a quick review (possible SPOILERS)
