| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
The Masked Mage
Great Reader
USA
2420 Posts |
 Posted - 27 Jan 2013 : 12:32:42
|
Copied from a THO post of Ed's replies:
-Not “I can hurl godly power” but “I’ve been hurling godly power for so long, and yet can’t save the things about the world around me that I want to save, and can’t even die when and how I want to, and I’m so TIRED of it all"
I love this view of the Chosen... Does anyone think this take is not too far from them becoming an Evil character - like - the hell with it all, time to blast away anyone and everyone that steps on my toes because I can damnit, and it doesn't matter anyways because you're all going to die before I know it.
That idea makes me think about some of the Realm's ancients a little differently.
|
|
|
Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 27 Jan 2013 : 18:01:19
|
It is actually not a new take - it is a take that has slowly been developing over the course of many novels (mostly about Elminster) right from the beginning.
I was fortunate enough to come to be a fan of Ed's novels much later then most folks here, so I read them years and years after they were written, so they were not as separated by 'real time' as how most people read them. This gave me a somewhat 'better'* (couldn't really think of a good term there - sorry) overview of how his personality has progressed... which it has.
It has gone from, "{sigh} time to save the world again...", to "What have the idiots gotten themselves into this time? I'm tired... can't someone else 'save the world' for a change?" {exhale of exasperation}.
What has happened is that he realized that no matter how MUCH you do, you cannot stop people from being people, and by that, I mean screwing up in major ways. Time after time they manage to tear-down everything he has worked so hard for. Its not evil... it exhaustion mixed with futility. If you spent 1000 years trying to keep a pack of wild dogs from tearing each other apart (and getting bit in the process), eventually you are going to just let them kill each other. Thats not evil, thats just "letting nature take its course".
*and before anyone (or a certain someone) jumps all over that, I am not saying anything I did was better - I am saying that the order the facts were presented to me in, and the close chronological (real time) order I had to process that information worked in my favor - I read most of his books over a two year period, rather then a twenty year period. Its simply a matter of perspective, nothing more. |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
|
Edited by - Markustay on 27 Jan 2013 18:05:44 |
 |
|
|
Dennis
Great Reader
9933 Posts |
Posted - 31 Jan 2013 : 13:28:18
|
It is very unlikely the Chosen would embrace pure evil. They have been usually shady since their "inception." Any drastic change in paradigm would require...well, either a dire situation, or a stupid one. |
Every beginning has an end. |
|
|
|
The Masked Mage
Great Reader
USA
2420 Posts |
Posted - 31 Jan 2013 : 15:28:10
|
| Sammaster did. He lost his powers, but I'd say that's because he said "forget Mystra, time to worship undead dragons!" |
|
|
|
Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36880 Posts |
Posted - 31 Jan 2013 : 16:25:30
|
quote:
Originally posted by The Masked Mage
Sammaster did. He lost his powers, but I'd say that's because he said "forget Mystra, time to worship undead dragons!"
There's a lot more to it than that... His fall is chronicled in the Cult of the Dragon sourcebook. He wasn't actually stripped of the silver fire until after he attacked Alustriel. Even without the silver fire, though, he retained the immortality given to Chosen. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen!  |
|
|
|
Ayrik
Great Reader
Canada
7989 Posts |
Posted - 31 Jan 2013 : 17:09:58
|
Being Chosen is a voluntary appointment. A deity would also be very selective about candidates who are intended to function as vessels of power and agents/champions of the portfolio for an indefinite (immortal?) duration.
This basically means that Chosen are perfectly suited people for the job, as determined by their own capacities and by the nearly omniscient abilities (within the scope of the portfolio) of the deity they service. I don't expect immortal power would make many "go bad" ... although the fact that a few have seems to demonstrate that deities are fallible, or that external forces (such as other deities) can interfere, or that mortals are flawed/fragile/unstable/unpredictable creatures unsuited to wield divine power. Sammaster was consumed by the power until he "burned out". |
[/Ayrik] |
|
|
|
Dennis
Great Reader
9933 Posts |
Posted - 05 Feb 2013 : 13:26:36
|
Aye, I forgot about dear Sammy. From what I've gleaned on the sourcebook, it appears that Sammaster's change of outlook on life was brought about more by external influence than an internal one. |
Every beginning has an end. |
|
|
|
Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 05 Feb 2013 : 13:59:05
|
What Mystra does is try to find mortals that won't be corrupted by all that power. Because of the whole 'Free Will' thing, she can never be certain of the outcome. Just take a look at some of the past Magisters - some of them were right ebil bastiches (although they differ from Chosen in that she DOESN'T choose them).
What I think is that Sammaster wasn't alone - he is just the most recent failure, and the one we know about. Had he not started a popular cult, would we even know about him? Mystra's church (and Chosen) have been known to obscure information (and re-write history... just look at Khelben) to suit their own - and their goddesses - purposes.
I think we'd be rather surprised to learn just how many there truly were (and how many more 'past incarnation' Chosen may still be running about). And I know some of you are probably thinking about asking Ed about them, but I can assure you that that falls firmly under an NDA (I don't need to ask - he side-steps nearly all questions of this type).
The 4e designers thought there was 'too much information', but the Realms secrets - those things that are REALLY going on - are far greater in scope then anything we've been told. Like Shrek, FR is like an onion... except it's layers never end.  |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
|
Edited by - Markustay on 05 Feb 2013 13:59:33 |
|
|
|
sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
12024 Posts |
Posted - 05 Feb 2013 : 14:15:03
|
| In my homebrew campaign, its El's capability to resist that urge to turn evil that actually made my "personal" pc/npc turn to him for a very special request. Elminster took his wife from him and specifically hid her from Sleyvas and helped stage her death, all at Sleyvas' own request as he feared the actions his other "former" countrymen would use against him when he was deemed a traitor to Thay. He even wanted her hid from himself so that she could live a life and him not have to worry about her discovery being because of his own failing (i.e. him failing to human worry and secretly checking on her). In return, Sleyvas offered his ruthless nature to the Chosen should he ever need something done and El not want to know the gory details on his own conscience (Sleyvas has some nobility, but his moral compass is very skewed). He then took up residence in Soorenar, where he took up worship of the red knight and became involved with the church of Velsharoon that had recently built a temple near the Tower Terrible (former residence of Velsharoon on Faerun).... but that's another story. |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
The Chosen and other Realms Ancients
