#Sheila Kree

[drizzit]

Le'lorinel Tel'e'brenequiette is my Dragona Joestar

[lost-in-thedas]

I really hope Sheila Kree and her crew will stay alive because I like them

[exsanguidus]

{ HEADCANON }

Astarion's admiration for Drizzt Do'Urden isn't just because Drizzt is one of the most famous elves in the realms. It's also because Drizzt's tales are heavily told in Moon Elf society because part of Drizzt Do'Urden's history is tied to a Moon Elf historical figure: Ellifain Tuuserail (male alias Le'lorinel Tel'e'brenequiette).

Astarion can't remember his natural life when he was just a Moon Elf lad or being told these stories as a child, but he does remember the stories. He even builds a little collection of books that focus on Drizzt Do'Urden's tales after the events of the game.

The story of Drizzt Do'Urden and Ellifain Tuuserail goes as such:

On Drizzt's first visit to the surface, he participated in an attack on the surface elves with his fellow Drow. During this experience, he began to realize how vile he found his own kin, and saved the young Ellifain by smearing her with blood from her mother's corpse. Ellifain recalled a different account of events and believed Drizzt to be responsible for her mother's death, hunting him down relentlessly. Afterward, Ellifain continued living with the elves of the Moonwood, but was scarred by the traumatic event, despite the efforts of clerics and wizards to restore her mental state. When she heard rumors of a drow with lavender eyes who had come to live on the surface, she was consumed with thoughts of revenge. In 1357 DR, she encountered Drizzt as he was traveling through the Moonwood. She decided to kill Drizzt Do'Urden for what she thought he did. The elves tried to persuade her not to, but her thoughts of revenge were too tempting as she hatched a plan to kill Drizzt. The pair were to meet again in the Moonwood, when Tarathiel and other elves had to hold her back to stop her from attacking. Ellifain later disappeared, traveling to Silverymoon in an effort to hire a swordsman capable of the two-long-weapons fighting style favored by Drizzt whom she could train against. Ellifain eventually found a swordsman who used two scimitars to practice against, obtained an ensorcelled ring to aid her, and became a follower of Sheila Kree. This culminated in a final encounter between Drizzt and Ellifain, in which both were mortally wounded. Ellifain died in a pirate cavern believing Drizzt to have also been killed, but Bruenor Battlehammer came to his aid and saved his life. Later, her spectre was summoned by clerics of King Battlehammer, and she realized the truth only in death, that Drizzt was her savior from the merciless blades of the drow. Drizzt finally released his guilt after Ellifain's soul was summoned and she apologized for her unwarranted hatred of Drizzt.

A secondary reason that Astarion likes Drizzt Do'Urden so much is because he can relate to Drizzt's initial inability to deal with the emotional implications of gaining genuine feelings for someone (for Drizzt it was falling in love with Catti-brie), using sex and sexuality as a tool and unhealthy coping skill (Drizzt's relationship with Dahlia Sin'felle after the death of Catti-brie), and the realization of being used for one's body but being cut off from emotional connection (also Drizzt's relationship with Dahlia Sin'felle).

[artemis-entreri]

[[ This post contains Part 6 of my review/analysis of the Forgotten Realms/Drizzt novel, Boundless, by R. A. Salvatore. As such, the entirety of this post’s content is OOC. ]]

Genre: Fantasy

Series: Generations: Book 2 | Legend of Drizzt #35 (#32 if not counting The Sellswords)

Publisher: Harper Collins (September 10, 2019)

My Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Additional Information: Artwork for the cover of Boundless and used above is originally done by Aleks Melnik. This post CONTAINS SPOILERS. Furthermore, this discussion concerns topics that I am very passionate about, and as such, at times I do use strong language. Read and expand the cut at your own discretion.

Contents:

Introduction

I. Positives I.1 Pure Positives I.2 Muddled Positives

II. Mediocre Writing Style II.1 Bad Descriptions II.2 Salvatorisms II.3 Laborious “Action”

III. Poor Characterization III.1 “Maestro” III.2 Lieutenant III.3 Barbarian III.4 “Hero” III.5 Mother

IV. World Breaks IV.1 Blinders Against the Greater World IV.2 Befuddlement of Earth and Toril IV.3 Self-Inconsistency IV.4 Dungeon Amateur IV.5 Utter Nonsense

V. Ego Stroking V.1 The Ineffable Companions of the Hall V.2 Me, Myself, and I

VI. Problematic Themes (you are here) VI.1 No Homo VI.2 Disrespect of Women VI.3 Social-normalization VI.4 Eugenics

VII. What’s Next VII.1 Drizzt Ascends to Godhood VII.2 Profane Redemption VII.3 Passing the Torch VII.4 Don’t Notice Me Senpai

Problematic Themes

No Homo

Boundless continues to perpetuate some long-standing regressive to outright harmful ideas, as well as introducing new ones. There are two that are the biggest. The first is something that's existed for over two decades in the Drizzt books, and something that I've criticized Salvatore for for a long time: the fetishization of sapphic relationships. While Boundless is an improvement (and a bit of an oddity for Salvatore) in that it doesn't include any gratuitous lesbian sex scenes or allusions, it still very much perpetuates an imbalanced representation, such that it wouldn't be fair to describe it as true representation. Yet again, despite it being canon that the default sexuality in the Realms is pansexuality as opposed to heterosexuality in our world, the only people that we see in Boundless that are capable of same sex attractions are female. Ever since the token gay guy Afrafrenfere's epiphany that everything else he'd been engaged in, which includes his deceased boyfriend, was a distraction from enlightenment, there hasn't been so much of an implication that men could be attracted to other men in Salvatore's Realms. There exists more chemistry between Harbonair and Zaknafein than between Zaknafein and Dab'nay, which is rather sad given that the latter pair are actively sexual with each other. There's of course the possibility that Salvatore just doesn't know how to write gay male chemistry, but to be fair, his heterosexual chemistry is pretty bad. Most of it is just sex or another physical act spontaneously happening that triggers a change in the nature of the relationship, for instance, the start of the relationship between Entreri and Calihye. There's so much background "everyone is heterosexual" stuff going on that to be inclusive, Salvatore just needs to mention that there's more than one man in an orgy rather than it always being one man to many women. Or, better yet, use an example directly from the world canon that other authors have used, namely, that the workers of a brothel or attendants in a temple of Sune are of more than one gender and that a male client is greeted by both male, female, and other gender-identifying attendants. Casual inclusion of this nature isn't difficult, and we see Salvatore do it with sapphic stuff enough that leads me to believe that it's a choice on his part not to be fully inclusive. 

An example of when Salvatore could've gone for inclusion, but instead went for fetishization, is in the scene of Dahlia infiltrating a Waterdhavian nobles' ball:

This isn't much better than gratuitous lesbian sex scenes at the total exclusion of gay men. It's completely unnecessary for Salvatore to have specified that women also drooled after Dahlia; simply stating "people" would've been sufficient. It's not like Salvatore doesn't have many chances and setups where he can drop a hint that gay men exist in the Realms like he does so frequently for gay women. Oftentimes, Salvatore's writing feels very much like he realizes that there's "too much" chemistry between two male characters, such that he has to throw in a "NO HOMO" wrench. For instance:

While there isn't anything inherently gay in this passage, there isn't anything inherently gay in so many places where Salvatore artificially injected "these women are sapphic" indicators. Yet here, between two male characters, it's specifically clarified that it's brotherly love. Love is love, it shouldn't have to be clarified like this. Sure, some people might jump to romantic love, but so what? This was a good opportunity to at the very least, leave it vague, but apparently Salvatore can't stomach it enough that he has to cross the possibility out with a bold black marker (maybe its the same sharpie he uses on the tapestry of Faerûn). It's as though the possibility of romantic love between two men somehow taints the sacredness of their bond. Salvatore's writing style is very old-fashioned and set in its ways, but that's no excuse not to change. Despite his espoused views on social media, Salvatore's lack of representation in his writing suggests a discomfort that he doesn't want to address. This is increasingly problematic as we try to push to a better world with more acceptance and equality. Inclusion isn't truly inclusion if it's done with only a portion of the population. 

Disrespect of Women

What Salvatore does with sapphic women is fetishization, which is additionally problematic because it's a short hop from objectification of women. This point is one that I haven't touched on much in the past, but it's glaring in Boundless because in this novel, Salvatore also tries to demonstrate respect of women. Salvatore has a long history of poorly-written female characters. In his books, a female character's most redeeming characteristics were that she was hot and young. For a while, I could tell which female characters were there to stay, which were doomed to die from the get-go, and which would suffer horribly as they met their inevitable end. It always had to do with how physically attractive the character was, and usually with respect to how she measured up to Catti-brie's beauty. Not counting female villains like Sheila Kree who were not coincidentally unattractive, protagonist characters weren't spared this treatment. For instance, Delly Curtie didn't hold a candle to Catti and could barely find happiness with Catti's rejected suitor. By the same token, Innovindil, who, despite being a full-blooded elf, wasn't as beautiful as Catti, and was subsequently very short-lived. Dahlia, another full-blooded elf who wasn't as beautiful as Catti, admittedly didn't die (yet), but what she went through is arguably worse. Dahlia is portrayed to be very much second best to Catti, from her looks to her rejection by Drizzt to Catti outright beating Dahlia in a fight. So, of course, Dahlia gets stuck with Entreri, who's frequently portrayed as second best to Drizzt. Salvatore does deserve credit for trying to break the mold with Penelope Harpell and Wulfgar, but Penelope's appearance doesn't leave much of an impression. We're reminded multiple times that she's an older woman, and the focus is on her personality, but with how often younger female characters' physical appearance is mentioned and re-mentioned, it gives the impression that Salvatore doesn't believe older women can be physically attractive. As always, Catti-brie was an exception to the rule, for even in her mid-forties, "her form, a bit thicker with age, perhaps, but still so beautiful and inviting to [Drizzt]", a characterization that follows another sentence describing how beautiful she was barely a page prior. But we don't hear such about Penelope, instead, we're told about the strengths of her personality, which are admirable, but only become the focus for her, rather than for a young-appearing strong female character like Yvonnel the Second. This is not to mention that someone's form probably shouldn't be characterized as inviting, as that is something the person should do, not something done by the person's looks. The objectification of women is problematic enough on its own, but instead of addressing the issue, Salvatore appears to consider it sufficient to put in a significant anecdote featuring a temporary character to prove that he is an ally to women. The mysterious "demon" possessing the little girl Sharon is painted as a moral adjudicator, entrapping the evil in its unbreakable cocoons filled with wasps that have human faces. Before this "demon" entraps Entreri, it ensnares an old man, whom we're simply told is an old lecher, with no insight about what makes him such and what wrongdoings he'd committed. All we know is that he and his wife attempted to kidnap Sharon and threatened to kill her if she resisted. It's not very clear what's going on in that scenario or what the couple's intentions were. The man's description shifts suddenly from nothing to "old lecher", and he is damned to an eternity of suffering. But how was he a lecher? Was Salvatore trying to imply that he intended to sexually assault Sharon? Or was human trafficking one of his many sins, with the "lecher" part referring to how he is towards women? While all of these crimes certainly warrant harsh punishment, the message that Salvatore's trying to convey isn't clear. Furthermore, the anecdote gives the reader zero satisfaction in the guy's punishment, because we're only marginally invested in what's happened. His anecdote is nothing more than a cheap and lazy setup to illustrate what the "demon" can do.

Social-normalization

The second of the two worst among Salvatore's long-standing problematic themes is the simplified and social-normative qualifications of what makes a person worthwhile. To put it simply, one is good and just if they are the Companions of the Hall and/or act like them, despite the many many ways that the Companions behave unheroically and hypocritically. On the flip side, one who doesn't subscribe to or follow the model of the Companions is evil, bad, or not worthy of existence unless they change to become like the Companions. Of the latter group, it isn't sufficient to change to become a different version of themselves. For instance, during the demonic assault, Zaknafein throws himself into the fray of battle, risking his life, yet again, for his ungrateful son. Yet, Drizzt's takeaway from watching his father do this is, "joy to see his father so willingly risking his life for the cause of the goodly folk of the Crags". There appears to be a subconscious inconsistency here on Salvatore's part, for he even writes that Zaknafein helps the dwarves because Zaknafein knows it's what his son wants him to do, so removing Drizzt from the picture, Zaknafein wouldn't be doing it solely on behalf of the dwarves. Zaknafein isn't Drizzt, and that's a good thing, for not everything needs to be a Drizzt clone, but Salvatore doesn't seem to agree with that assessment. 

Salvatore doesn't seem to realize that Drizzt is the problematic one. Boundless represents a point in time in which it's been awhile since Zaknafein has returned. During this time, while Zaknafein has been trying to adapt and adjust his worldviews, Drizzt's perspective hasn't changed at all, despite Jarlaxle spending a great amount of time talking to him about Zaknafein and presumably helping Drizzt get past the initial emotional turmoil of the return of Zaknafein and his own struggles with reconciling the past and the present. There's also a double-standard here, for while Entreri is forced to change because enough time has gone by, Drizzt isn't. 

It really seems to be the message that the only characters that are good and valid need to be as close to Drizzt as possible, and this belief applied to Entreri has been the cause of the assassin's increasingly poor characterization. Entreri has become a "better person" by the narrator's approximation, a quality that is, yet again, not coincidentally synonymous to being an ally to the Companions of the Hall. Artemis Entreri may very well have become a better version of himself, but that is not, and should not be, becoming more like the Companions of the Hall. By whose definition is "a better person" anyway? By Drizzt's? By the Companions'? It's often the case that those that believe that they are the definition of what's right and define others' morality relative to themselves are the least qualified to do so. 

Eugenics

Although not as prominent as the two themes already mentioned, one final consistent problematic theme of Salvatore's in the Drizzt books that I'd like to discuss is the idea that mediocrity and excellence are inherited traits. Boundless reminds us yet again that all of the offspring of Rizzen are as unpromising as he is, and while it isn't specifically stated that all the offspring of Zaknafein is very much otherwise, we have over thirty books basically telling us that so it probably doesn't need to be repeated. While it is true that genetics do play a role in determining what makes up a person, genetics do not lock in guaranteed results. Yet, the undistinguished Rizzen sired "the mediocrity of Nalfein", and as though that insult wasn't bad enough, "His pants fell down, too. Again, and as expected, unimpressive." Dinin "would do Rizzen proud", but that's not saying a whole lot because it was in the context of the total failure of Nalfein. There's a further level of problematic theme here, for perpetuating the stereotype that a man's worth is at all related to the size of his genitalia. All of that aside, not everyone is privileged enough to be born to top specimens, and those that weren't inherently already have a struggle on their hands. They don't deserve to have the idea that they'll be mediocre no matter what perpetuated. Genetics might be what makes an individual, but what defines them is the actions that they take.

[nezuneko]

Okay, so... (long post)

…I’ve watched Captain Marvel this week.

A lot of critics in my country were up on the roof saying how weak this movie was after Infinity War, and how it does not live up to the standards that the previous films set, and after DC introduced Wonder Woman, it was such a weak attempt to bring a ‘strong female character’ to the big screen.

WELL I’m sorry to disappoint, BUT THIS MOVIE WAS AWESOME. I liked it so fricken much, and I honestly don’t understand, why someone would say, that it’s not that good of a Marvel movie, or it didn’t worth the wait blah blah blah…

Let me highlight a few things about Carol Danvers. She:

is a strong character, who decides, that she needs to do what is right, and does not take any of anyone’s bullshit (fight with Yon-Rogg at the end, ya know)

fought against gender stereotypes (rope climbing scene)

made it to the air force DESPITE the demeanor of other pilots

made an equally ambitious friend

saved people of another planet just because it was the right thing to do

Had the mental strenght not to collapse under the truth of all that Kree manipulation she went through for six years

So yeah, girl is badass. How can anyone say she’s not?

I’ve also read that there is no main villain in this movie, and the skrulls are a one dimension race with no complex background stories, and we don’t get to know anything about the kree, and how unfair is that...

To that I would like to say/ask: how much do you want to know? Like the movie states, that the Kree empire is big AF. They have a Supreeme Intelligence who knows everything about everyone, their tech is miles before ours, and they need their military to “keep the peace everywhere” (like you want to keep the peace on a planet that is half a galaxy away from you, where you have a spy, you know... for the peace? Sure, Sheila, knock yourself out...). We got a little kree history from Mar-Vell, telling Carol, that the kree are not the best guys to begin with. What else do you wanna know about them? What they ate for breakfast???

We had the Sovereigns in Guardians of the Galaxy vol. II, but I don’ t really remember anyone who was all about “Well, you could have told us more about the gold painted weird lady with the roll out red carpet ya know...

Also, what more do we need to know about the skrulls, that was sooo important, and wasn’t mentioned in the movie? They were attacked and colonized by the kree, then the kree proceeded to kill those who went against the new peace they’ve brought, there was one kree, who said: well, guys, we may have been a shitty race for IDK, enslaving and colonizing our galaxy? So Mar-Vell helped the remaining skrulls to hide, and a skrull team wanted to reach this kree to get the plans to get out of the galaxy. What info do you need?

I’ve also read, that this is just an origin story wrapped in some conflict, and I was like:

Of course it is! Like it was with Iron Man, Thor, Captain America (WW II. is a rather big conflict TBH, and poor Team Cap was not even elaborated in the movie, the audacity...), Hulk, etc.

So yeah. I think Captain Marvel is an awesome movie with young and funny, witty Fury and Carol Danvers, who just does what a decent human being should do: help, where she can, fight prejudice and gender stereotypes, overcome insecurities and be generally awesome.

[elrincondelescritornovato]

"El mar de las espadas" de Robert Anthony Salvatore, cuarta y última novela de "Sendas de las tinieblas", que sigue con la saga de "El elfo oscuro"; "Cuando se descubre la marca del gran martillo de guerra Aegis-fang grabada en la espalda de un peligroso forajido, Drizzt ya no puede contentarse con suponer que Wulfgar está a salvo. El elfo oscuro y sus compañeros parten para encontrar al bárbaro de una vez por todas. A medida que van descubriendo fragmentos del rompecabezas en que se ha convertido la vida de su amigo, crece la determinación de Drizzt de encontrarlo. Mientras sus amigos lo buscan, Wulfgar navega con el capitán Deudermont tras el Aegis-fang robado que ahora está en manos de la vil pirata Sheila Kree. Pero la pirata no tiene intención de ser capturada"; una búsqueda furiosa, la temeridad de una capitana de barco pirata, el segimiento para hallar a un amigo perdido; que mejor argumento para una aventura. . . . . . #elrincondelescritornovato #elrincóndelescritornovato #librosleidosatravesdemivida #rasalvatore #reinosolvidados #forgotenrealms #sagasliterarias #sagas #historiasdefantasia #historiasdefantasía #calabozosydragones #dungeonsanddragons #megustaescribir #escribohistorias #escribomilibro #pasiónporlalectura #pasiónporleer #pasiónporlaescritura #pasiónporescribir #pasionporlalectura #pasionporleer #pasionporlaescritura #pasionporescribir #devenezuela #elescritornovato #escritornovato #escritoraficionado #soyunnarradornovato #narradornovato #narradoraficionado (en Venezuela, Maracay, Edo Aragua) https://www.instagram.com/p/CVDCyd3F8w9/?utm_medium=tumblr

[darkfalcon-z]

He started ahead again, and this time Bellany let him move past her and into the room. "I suspect you would have had more luck in wooing that one." "Took you long enough to figure that one out," Bellany replied, closing the door as she entered behind the rogue.

I’m calling it, lesbian pirate captain confirmed.