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KnightErrantJR
Great Reader
USA
5402 Posts |
 Posted - 17 Apr 2006 : 01:44:43
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I read this story right as I went on hiatus, and I had a lot of thoughts, and a lot of emotion, involving this story. So its likely a good thing that I had a few weeks away to calm down. I haven't been this worked up (and had so difficult a time reconciling a story to canon) since the Silver Marches/Hunter's Blades issue came up.
First and foremost, moonblades are artifacts. I don't care of half-elves are considered elves for any other effects of common magic items. I don't care if sub race doesn't matter for common magic items. If an artifact only works for full blooded moon elves, then thats how they work. While I respect that we have to accept new things added to canon, to allow previous canon to just "go away" in light of a lack of fact checking on the part of newer authors is to say to hell with almost 20 years of continuity. Heck, why not just pull a Crisis on Infinate Earths and scrap everything.
But thats not how we Realms afficianados roll. "The Bladesinger's Lesson" happened, so lets brainstorm what exactly did happen in this story.
First, I have a question. Is there any reason to assume that Daried's mother was not a moon elf? We know that in the Realms, an elf is what ever subrace he favors. In other words, Daried would not be a half moon/half gold elf, he would either be a moon elf or a gold elf, and apparently he was born a gold elf. I am trying to remember if anything in the story would have firmly said that his mother was not a moon elf. Please let me know if you remember any passages to this effect.
Next, if we are already seeing the cliched "female half elf wielder" of the blade, then why not go the whole shebang and say that, all the years that the blade was not tended by the elven families, it was tampered with, thus allowing a half-elf to claim the blade. Of course, in this case, Nilsa would have had to have been related to Daried on his mother's side, else the sword would not have allowed her to claim it, but I can streach that far if it preserves canon.
Now is the part that is actually more difficult to me to reconcile than all of the rest of this. Glen. Grrr.
Glen is not a human village. Without getting too far on a tangent, I'm a bit surprised to see the author of the sencond edition Dalelands supplement miss this one. Glen is a dwarven village. Dwarven farmers. Almost everyone in Glen is a dwarf, with just a few halflings and humans.
I have no real way to reconcile this, short of saying that the dwarves suffered major losses at some point in time and the town was repopulated by humans, or that the town grew in size so much that there is now a sizable human population as well. However, Nilsa's family and several of the locals definately seem to have been there for a while, and we see NO DWARVES at all. Had there even been a dwarf here or there, I would have said this just happened to be the "human quarter" of the town. Then again, when we hear about the Dalesfolk fighting side by side with the elves, we get no specific mention of dwarves, and a lot of mentions about archery, which doesn't really call to mind dwarves.
I really don't want Glen to be retconned into just another human village. If you read Volo's Guide to the Dalelands, for example, the place is facinating, and is established in canon as a dwarven village. So how do we get this piece of the puzzle to fit.
Any thoughts?
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George Krashos
Master of Realmslore
Australia
6648 Posts |
Posted - 17 Apr 2006 : 14:03:38
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Ignore the perceived "errors". They are after all, just some prose in a collection of short stories. The time and effort to reconcile all the novels with the gaming stuff is energy that is best directed elsewhere. After all, if you come up with a range of "fixes", it is unlikely to change anyone's perception of the story, as a story. If it was a gaming article or gaming product providing us with this information, then I'd agree with what you are trying to do; but as it's fiction I say leave well enough alone.
-- George Krashos
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"Because only we, contrary to the barbarians, never count the enemy in battle." -- Aeschylus |
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PaulSKemp
Forgotten Realms Author
808 Posts |
Posted - 17 Apr 2006 : 15:42:22
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quote:
Originally posted by KnightErrantJR
But thats not how we Realms afficianados roll.
I realize this is serious thread, but that comment cracked me right up. 
Realms afficionados in the Hey-ouse! Yep, yep! |
Edited by - PaulSKemp on 17 Apr 2006 15:43:35 |
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KnightErrantJR
Great Reader
USA
5402 Posts |
Posted - 17 Apr 2006 : 16:28:40
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Well, at least I didn't refer to amulets and rings as "magic bling."
Oh, and my kids hate it when I use phrases like that.  |
Edited by - KnightErrantJR on 17 Apr 2006 16:38:24 |
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Kuje
Great Reader
USA
7915 Posts |
Posted - 17 Apr 2006 : 16:31:12
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| I'd agree with George, except Richard Baker wrote that short story and he's commented, repeatedly, that by the new rules, which are in sourcebooks, half-elves can wield elven weapons and wear elven armor. Magic of Faerun, which updated moonblades, says this as well. |
For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet and excite you... Books are full of the things that you don't get in real life - wonderful, lyrical language, for instance, right off the bat. - Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium |
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SirUrza
Master of Realmslore
USA
1283 Posts |
Posted - 22 Apr 2006 : 01:33:10
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Why is it so difficult that a half elf can wield a moonblade? Is it because Gold Elves can't? I know Elaine has said that Arilyn can wield her sword because it was tampered with and I could see the annoyance amongst fans (myself included) that the significance of such a union would be diminished by little miss short story doing it first.. but I don't find it far fetched at all.
As for the rules, my AD&D core books are long and buried, but was it actually in print that half-elves couldn't use elf items? I know Elves of Evermeet and Cormanthyr don't come out and specifically say half-elfs aren't good enough.
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"Evil prevails when good men fail to act."
The original and unapologetic Arilyn, Aribeth, Seoni Fanboy. |
Edited by - SirUrza on 22 Apr 2006 01:39:53 |
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KnightErrantJR
Great Reader
USA
5402 Posts |
Posted - 22 Apr 2006 : 02:08:13
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Actually, the half-elf part doesn't bother me as much as the fact that the gold elf's family had the sword. Yes, the sword could have been tampered with while it was in human hands and this may have allowed a half-elf user (although that is about as original as someone else writing about another scimitar weilding good aligned drow ranger). As I said above, it could be that the gold elf's mother was a moon elf, since elves either follow one parent or the other.
But Glen is most certainly NOT a human village. I'm sorry . . . just having a bit of an episode . . . nothing to see here. |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31701 Posts |
Posted - 22 Apr 2006 : 02:31:46
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Arilyn was the first half-elf ever to claim a Moonblade. Up till that point, no half-elf had ever been able to do that. It's said that the reason for this is due to the fact that Arilyn has an elven soul, and not a human one -- a soul that that could allow her wield Amnestria's blade. It is the soul that is judged when a potential wielder first draws a Moonblade. It wasn't until Arilyn, that it become evident to the elves that a fully elven soul could reside in a half-elven body.
Besides, Elaine has said, out of game, that as creator of the moonblades she pretty much had the opportunity to decide who and who couldn't (in terms of races) wield the moonblades, that was until WotC changed her points about that.
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Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium -- Volume IX now available (Oct 2007)
"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood
Zhoth'ilam Folio -- The Electronic Misadventures of a Rambling Sage |
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elven_songstress
Learned Scribe
126 Posts |
Posted - 20 May 2006 : 11:11:57
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| Yes and prior to that the only half moon/half sun was Josidiah Starym, and anyone who played 2nd edtion might have seen what happened to the Starym Moonblade, NOT GOOD! anyways, I don't see a big problem with it, but I agree if were going to let any half elf weild a moon blade, why can't a sun elf. |
We need to be reminded sometimes that a sunrise lasts but a few minutes,but its beauty can burnin our hearts eternally." |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36779 Posts |
Posted - 20 May 2006 : 17:18:55
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quote:
Originally posted by elven_songstress
Yes and prior to that the only half moon/half sun was Josidiah Starym, and anyone who played 2nd edtion might have seen what happened to the Starym Moonblade, NOT GOOD! anyways, I don't see a big problem with it, but I agree if were going to let any half elf weild a moon blade, why can't a sun elf.
Josidiah's heritage had nothing to do with what happened to the Starym Moonblade. He never weilded the blade.
And this is my 7500th post! |
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I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen!  |
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dannyfu
Learned Scribe
USA
108 Posts |
Posted - 20 May 2006 : 22:20:20
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| eh, just a quick comment, i was super bummed by the outcome of this story. another half-elf moonblade wielder. meh. i love the last mythal trilogy sooo much, rich has been brilliant with writing it, very creative and original. this short story was good, but the outcome (for me) saw the wind rolling the bale of hay thru the ghost town. how i long for a true elven champion to kick some major butt for the People with his family's moonblade. ahhhhh, here i go again.... |
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Brainstorming "The Bladesinger's Lesson"
