#bane malar

[comicwaren]

From Star Wars: Revelations Vol. 2 #001

“A Trick of the Mind”, by Charles Soule (W), Andrea Di Vito and Rachelle Rosenberg (A)

“Tall Tales”, by Alyssa Wong (W), David Baldeón and Jay David Ramos (A)

“Stolen Hope”, by Ethan Sacks (W), Will Sliney and Nolan Woodard (A)

“Showdown at Ocean’s Deep”, by Marc Bernardin (W), Chriscross and Andrew Dalhouse (A)

“Tool of the Empire”, by Greg Pak (W), Salvador Larroca and Nolan Woodard (A)

“All the Republic”, by Cavan Scott (W), Marika Cresta and Chris Sotomayor (A)

“Duel of the Reprobates”, by Marc Guggenheim (W), Salva Espín and Israel Silva (A)

[thecubspeaks]

i guess this is a hot take but i really do think 'grooming' is the least interesting way to think about gale and mystra, though I can see why in-character, gale and others might articulate it that way for lack of a better comparison.

but while mystra's line to gale about how he was her lover but understands her so little is, you know, kind of savage in the circumstances, i think it's also true, and something even she only fully realised after gale found the orb. gale is having a lot of messy human emotions in response to a break-up, and he ascribes those kinds of feelings to mystra, too: that having him detonate the orb is a petty punishment, that she feels threatened by him, that if he tries hard enough he can get her attention again. i'm not sure to what extent he ever fully accepts on-screen (except possibly at the very end of his non-god romance) that mystra is an entity with a personality and passions and preferences, yes, but who is fundamentally without human-scale emotions.

i think that mystra didn't realise how little gale understood her, not in the sense of 'my boyfriend got me a terrible gift, doesn't he know me,' but in that gale clearly does not understand that they are, on a cosmic level, not equal, and cannot be. and I think she in turn doesn't understand how devastating it is for a human to be drawn so close to a god, to exist in a space that is not meant for them, and to love someone who is incapable of giving human love back. i don't think she can be said to have 'groomed' gale in part because that implies an agenda of abuse she simply didn't have: i don't think it ever occurred to her that their relationship could or would be traumatic for gale, because that is not the scale on which she experiences the world.

i keep thinking about the lines from the book about kelemvor that you can find: 'As a mortal man he was a mercenary with a paladin's stoic beliefs hidden under a crust of scowls and grumbles. As Lord of Death, he was forced to mellow both aspects of himself, for the impulses of a man and a god are not consummate. Mortals are allowed caprice, but immortality wears that stone smooth quickly'.

if mystra were as petty, emotional, and vindictive as gale sometimes convinces himself that she is, then he'd have a real problem, because she literally is the weave-- he can't do magic without her, without connecting to her. i do think she feels more for and about gale than she knows she should, but she also can and does step outside of that, and view and experience things from the cosmic perspective of a god who cannot ruin one mortal's life because he betrayed her.

but also, she doesn't need to have intended to harm gale to have done so, and she doesn't need to have 'groomed' him for him to be traumatised by having his mentor (who is also his goddess) become his lover (who is, again, a goddess).

[silverdrein2]

I rlly don't know why is poor Myrkul still with THEM. P.S. I think that Bane and Bhaal are exes, fight me. P.P.S. I had big problems with design of each of Dead Three when I started to draw this, because… Ugh, did you see this 1998's designs? It's a bit ugly, a bit difficult and not interesting for me. After drawing I found some BG3-concepts, but it was after. And… come one, they are gods, they can look like they want. For example, did you know that Bhaal has the dinosaur form wich he stole from Malar?

[y-rhywbeth2]

I, a lunatic: What if Bane was the midwife for Durge's 'birth'?

Gods above lesser rank have the ability to create whole living beings (and inanimate objects). An intermediate deity (such as Bhaal was) can replicate anything it 'holds,' so long as the 'materials' to build it can be harvested from the material plane the creation is going to be on. Bhaal's first three kids were born this way by consuming and tearing apart living animals to create abominations imbued with his divine essence (though he was apparently a Greater Deity at the time, which means he could make new and original creations instead of just copying. A Greater Deity also doesn't need materials and can just use their own essence).

Regardless of rank, creating/duplicating whole new objects and beings into existence is absolutely exhausting for the deity. (Although if you're just making a human or something of similar mass that's still just a few moments to catch your breath, really.)

Of course Bhaal wasn't holding jack shit between the Time of Troubles and the 1480s on account of being dead, lacking a physical form or access to anything on the Prime to build with, and was reduced to a vestige of rank 0 with those powers well out of reach. No remaining fragment of Bhaal has the power to create a godspawn (except the Bhaalspawn, who can do it the old fashioned way, but apparently that didn't happen). And yet Durge predates Bhaal's resurrection (or else they'd be like 10).

'Often lesser powers have alliances with intermediate or greater powers that allow them to rely on their more powerful friends with assistance with the creation of objects.'

For Durge to be created this way, another god would need reason to take Bhaal's divine essence (maybe the portion stashed away on Mt Celestia or hidden in the Winding Waters, idk) and then craft it a form. Of Bhaal's allies; Loviatar, Mask, Talona and Malar are lesser deities who don't have the power to do this, and Myrkul is also dead. This leaves Bane. I don't see why Bane would do this, outside of some complicated machinations (blackmail?), but the consequences of sort-of having Bane as a (step?)father-ish presence could be interesting for Durge (who probably knows nothing about this). Might account for their insane ego and lack of subtlety which Orin despairs of so much.

(It goes without saying that in 'reality' I don't think this actually happened, but it would be one workaround.)

Bhaal's 'dead flesh' couldn't be used because he doesn't have physical flesh, he's a god. And the corpse-asteroid doesn't exist on the material plane and is formed from pure concept. His avatar, might in theory, have physical form, but being dead that's out of reach.

Bhaal could have created them prior to the events of the Moonshae Trilogy or as a secret fourth Child of Bhaal who didn't get noticed during the zombie apocalypse shenanigans.

...Timeline incompatibilities aside, my love of creepy changeling-themed Durge is now going: 'what if Bhaal murdered somebody's kid and then harvested their flesh and combined it with his own divine essence to rebuild a little predatory murder god replica and sent it 'home'?'

[coreene]

THE LEGEND OF KNUCKLEBONES, SKULL BOWLING, AND THE EMPTY THRONE

or how the dead three ascended to godhood

Long ago there was but one god of strife, death, and the dead, and he was known as Jergal, Lord of the End of Everything. Jergal fomented and fed on the discord among mortals and deific entities alike. When beings slew each other in their quest for power or in their hatred, he welcomed them into his shadowy kingdom of eternal gloom. As all things died, everything came to him eventually, and over time he built a kingdom unchallenged by any other god. But he grew tired of his duties, for he knew them too well, and without challenge there is nothing-and in nothingness there is only gloom. In such a state, the difference between absolute power and absolute powerlessness is - undetectable.

During this dark era arose three powerful mortals-Bane, Bhaal, and Myrkul-who lusted after the power Jergal possessed. The trio forged an unholy pact that they would gain such ultimate power or die in the attempt. Over the length and breadth of the world they strode, seeking powerful magic and spells and defying death at every turn. No matter what monster they confronted or what spells they braved, the three mortals emerged unscathed at every turn. Eventually, the trio journeyed into the Gray Waste and sought out the Castle of Bone. Through armies of skeletons, legions of zombies, hordes of wraiths, and a gauntlet of liches they battled. Eventually they reached the object of their lifelong quest - the Bone Throne.

"I claim this throne of evil," Bane the tyrant shouted to Jergal.

"I'll destroy you before you can raise a finger," threatened Bhaal the assassin.

"And I shall imprison yo ur essence for eternity," promised Myrkul the necromancer.

Jergal arose from his throne with a weary expression and said, "The throne is yours. I have grown weary of this empty power. Take it if you wish-I promise to serve and guide you as your seneschal until you grow comfortable with the position." Then, before the stunned trio could react, the Lord of the Dead asked, "Who among you shall rule?"

The trio immediately fell to fighting among themselves while Jergal looked on with indifference. When eventually it appeared that either they would all die of exhaustion or battle on for an eternity, the Lord of the End of Everything intervened.

"After all you have sacrificed, would you come away with nothing? Why don't you divide the portfolios of the office by engaging in a game of skill for them?" asked Jergal. Bane, Bhaal, and Myrkul considered the god's offer and agreed to it. So Jergal took the skulls of his three most powerful liches and gave them to the trio so they could compete in skull bowling. Each mortal rolled a skull across the Gray Waste, having agreed that the winner would be he who bowled the farthest.

Malar the Beastlord arrived to visit Jergal at this moment. After quickly ascertaining that the winner of the contest would receive all of Jergal's power, he chased off after the three skulls to make sure that the contest would be halted until he had a chance to participate for part of the prize. Bane, Bhaal, and Myrkul again fell to fighting, as it was obvious their sport had been ruined, but again Jergal intervened. "Why don't you allow Lady Luck to decide, so you don't have to share with the Beast?"

The trio agreed to this alternative, and Jergal broke off his skeletal finger bones and gave them to the contestants. When Malar returned from chasing the skulls, he found that the trio had just finished a game of knucklebones.

Bane cried out triumphantly, "As winner, I choose to rule for all eternity as the ultimate tyrant. I can induce hatred and strife at my whim, and all will bow down before me while in my kingdom."

Myrkul, who had won second place, declared, "But I choose the dead, and by doing so I truly win, because all that you are lord over, Bane, will eventually be mine. All things must dieeven gods."

Bhaal, who finished third, proclaimed, "I choose death, and it is by my hand that all that you rule, Lord Bane, will eventually pass to Lord Myrkul. Both of you must pay honour to me and obey my wishes, since I can destroy your kingdom, Bane, by murdering your subjects, and I can starve your kingdom, Myrkul, by staying my hand."

Malar growled in frustration, but could do nothing, and so yet again only the beasts were left for him.

And Jergal merely smiled, for he had been delivered.

[bharv]

For the Dark Urge questions, for Manva:

5. What opinion does your Dark Urge have about the Gods? (especially interested in: the gods broadly, or specific gods other than Bhaal!)

21. What are 2-3 songs that your Dark Urge would relate to?

Thank you! Answering these cool asks!

What opinion does your Dark Urge have about the Gods? (especially interested in: the gods broadly, or specific gods other than Bhaal!)

Manva was raised in the temple of the Open Hand in Rivington, and has a good education around Ilmater and the principles of suffering, which she still holds in her approach to the world and in the reform of the Bhaalist temple. She has more time for Gods that reflect the world as she sees it is, rather than those who promise what cannot be, if that makes sense. She understands Ilmater, Shar, Myrkul, Bane, Loviatar, Malar, all Gods that to her reflect back the hardships of life.

What are 2-3 songs that your Dark Urge would relate to?

She would call music an indulgence, but I have a few songs on playlist I have for writing her I think she would relate to. When the party's over by Billie Eilish and Your Love is a Disaster by Squirrel Flower particularly.

[talenlee]

3E: Evil Gods And Ridiculous Rules

Bhaal. Cyric. Gruumsh. Shar. Myrkul. Malar. Talos. Lolth. Bane. Tiamat. The names of dreadful forces, towering gods of evil and spite, entities that draw power from the very nature of what it is they embody. These are the evil deities of the Forgotten Realms, whose machinations and operators sprawl across the world before you, and whose presence makes the world a diabolical and dangerous place. They are powerful, they are malicious, they are intelligent, they are gods and above all, uniting them all, they are evil.

These entities, by the rules for gods in worldbuilding laid out in 3e, don’t make any fucking sense.

In 3e, gods got mechanics. They got rules for how they worked and what that meant. There was, to some extent, an idea outlined in the rules for how a god’s power was proportionate to their worshippers. Gods that ruled over, functionally, regions or whole heritages, they were powerful in proportion to their oversight. And these gods would usually form some variety of a roughly-balanced pantheon, with tiers of gods, depending on their power and their availability and those tiers of power would inform what they could do or how much of the world they could influence, like factions in an RTS.

Now, first of all, giving anything as important and story relevant in terms of its potential vaguaries and flexible boundaries as a deity a hard set of rules and population statistics is foolish. It’s foolish because you don’t need it and it’s foolish because it doesn’t get you anything useful and it’s foolish because it creates boxes into which you start to pour populations, but it’s also foolish, specifically here, because in the existing pantheon of evil deities in D&D3e, it creates a relationship to power and worshippers.

Gods who have a lot of worshippers have more power. This creates an incentive for gods to nation build, to maintain control over populations, and that kinda makes them a great example of a sort of organically created fascism generator. Gods need control over populations to create populations that they can feed on, and it’s magically enforceable. I mean if you want a lot of fascist states with gods in it to kill, you can probably dictate that as a reasonable setup.

But the gods of evil in 3e weren’t like that. They weren’t all creating fiefdoms to maximise their populations, and what’s more, they weren’t doing it in a way that made sense. Evil gods in 3e were largely, just extremist philosophies that could draw their worship only from people who were explicitly, absolutely, and definitely evil.

Just as an example, Bane was a god of tyranny, evil and dominion. He has a church, and that church oversees the domains of fear, hatred and tyranny. That is: he has a church of total assholes. He has a church whose primary role in any city it sets up to promote, constantly, the recruitment and oppression of others.

In a civilised society.

The church of Bane is described in 3e as being pretty well organised and even pretty widespread. Talos has churches in major cities and they’re dedicated to a god of destruction and storms. Bhaal is a god of ritual murders, and he also has a church and you gotta ask yourself: Why.

Why do people have these things, why would they be tolerated in a city’s space?

Either on the one hand: The god is stupid, and they are spending their time wearing a hat saying ‘drive me out of sensible society,’ instead of focusing on mundane, reformed, deniably evil, or the god can’t do that and the followers of an evil god are probably less common than non-followers of that evil god. And how do they recruit?

In the real world, religions don’t tend to recruit from just any random interested party. There’s not actually a lot of shopping around for religion, and those that do tend to do it within a small circle of pre-existing interests.But let’s imagine for a moment that people do actually completely dispassionately evaluate religious options around them and opt for the ones that offer literally the best pitch, just how many people are going to go to the church that promises tyranny and oppression? Openly? Real world fascists who really want tyranny and oppression are a tiny minority and they operate in secret and use coded language, and often even lie to themselves about what they want.

What I’m saying is that in a conventional situation, any asshole god of dominion and evil that was capable of not calling themselves that would have a lot more opportunities to pick up worshippers. And they have to have a lot of worshippers, right? These gods are great and powerful outer gods, able to rival the gods of things people like like harvests and life and love. Remember Sune, the weirdly impotent goddess of love? Does love rank against evil?

Here’s an alternative of course: What if the gods of evil don’t have huge crowds of followers to rival the others but it’s their devotion to the evil god that gives them the power to go toe to toe with the other gods? That creates a new problem where apparently, literally, hate is more powerful than love.

A third path, I suppose, is that most people don’t worship gods at all, and that most people are instead just putting out an ambient sort of ‘yeah, gods exist’ vibe that doesn’t actually translate into power for the god. You know, belief is a currency you have to specifically spend, which unfortunately begs the question of why aren’t milquetoast gods scooping that up?

Okay, so what of it? Like sure, I’ve already talked about the ways that third edition worldbuilding had problems, sure. This is just one more of them, the way that you got the peculiarities of a polytheistic pantheon devised by monotheistic men who operated on the assumption that the god they worshipped actually existed, really, and therefore, there was no particular difficulty just copy-pasting religion structures.

In that regard, the way that polytheism is practiced in in third edition is nothing like the way polytheism is practiced in real life. See, the gods in these worlds exist. They’re real, they’re agents, there’s no need to believe in them to ensure they exist at all – which most real world gods, to be careful about, seem to need. In the real world, a lot of polytheistic belief is not about picking a dude in the lineup to team sports after, but to instead understand that all of reality around you is a relationship between these groups. That there are places and times that make each of them important and that they relate to your life in different ways. Sailors don’t worship Neptune because they’re sailors, but they offer prayers and sacrifices to Neptune before they go onto the water because they’re about to go wandering around in that dude’s house.

And all of this, all of this is because the world building had a need to give stats to things. To create a world where Greater Outer Gods had lower Divine Rank stats than gods with Greater Inner God status, and we have terms like Quasi-Deity for Hero Gods. Where multiple collapsed aspects of a god can have their stats gamed out for fights with The God itself.

3e really tried to quantify some very silly things.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[alistairxsiro]

Going from the top of the list and working my way down of all that is known. These are the current alters.

Name: Pronouns: Race

Percival: They/Them/It

Aureon: He/Him / Litch

Balinor: He/Him / Humanoid Wolf

Boldrei: She/Her / Nymph

Dol Arrah: She/Her / Goddess

Dol Dorn: He/Him / Dullahan

Onatar: He/Him / Fire Genasi

Zorn: They/Them / Spirit

Melee: She/Her/ Humanoid spider

Dabria: She/Her / Undead

Crow: He/Him / Elf Jester

Xan: They/Them / Shadow

Izu: She/Her / Goddess

Alistair: He/Him / Demon

Evan: He/Him / Dark Elf

Oliver: He/Him /Human

Bane: He/Him /Vampire

Conri: He/Him / Werewolf

Deavas: He/Him /Demon

Drax: He/Him / Dragon

Ezra: They/Them / Homunculus

Jasper: He/ Him / Zombie

Jophiel: She/Her / Angel

Leo: He/Him / Greek God

Malar: He/Anything / Changeling

Maru: He/Him / Kijin

Raziel: He/Him / Angel

Rimiru: He/Him / Demon

Uzon: He/Him / God

Zamariel: He/Him / Angel

Zygar: He/Him / Unknown still

M.I.A list:

Absalom: He/Him / Vampire/Demon

Foras: He/Him / Demon

Iblis: He/Him /Demon

Kai: He/Him /Human

Lilith: She/Her / Demon

Nyx: He/Him / Vampire

If you have questions, feel free to ask.

[recordsofelysia]

Omnian Pantheon, Part 3 (Evil Alignment)

I HAVE 16 EVIL GODS?? It's a wonder they lost both wars a goddamn. Anyways here's the last 16 out of 33 gods in the Omnian Pantheon, all of which are evil aligned

Asmodeus/Lord of Lies/Prince of Evil: God of Indulgence and Devils (Lawful Evil)

Bane/The Black Hand: God of Tyranny, Oppression, Terror, and Hate (Lawful Evil)

Tiamat/The Queen of Dragons: Goddess of Greed and Chromatic Dragons (Lawful Evil)

Shar/Lady of Loss: Goddess of Darkness, Loss, Night, and Secrecy (Neutral Evil)

Myrkul/Lord of Bones: God of Decay, Exhaustion, and Necromancy (Neutral Evil)

Auril/The Frostmaiden: Goddess of Winter (Neutral Evil)

Torog/The Crawling King: God of Torturers, Slavers, and Jailers (Neutral Evil)

Bhaal/Lord of Murder: God of Murder (Chaotic Evil)

Talos/The Storm Lord: God of Storms (Chaotic Evil)

Gruumsh/The One-Eye: God of Orcs and Barbarians (Chaotic Evil)

Lolth/The Demon Queen of Spiders: Goddess of Deceit, Shadows, and Spiders (Chaotic Evil)

Zehir/The Great Serpent: God of Poisons, Assassins, and all those who lurk in darkness (Chaotic Evil)

Umberlee/The Sea Bitch: Goddess of The Sea (Chaotic Evil)

Malar/The Beastlord: God of Hunting (Chaotic Evil)

Beshaba/Lady Doom: Goddess of Bad Fortune (Chaotic Evil)

Tharizdun/The Chained Oblivion: God of Destruction

Wow there are a lot of them. I of course have my own selection of other, secret more sinister things that aren't True Gods, but that would stray into spoilers for the campaign.

Anyways with this many evil gods there are a couple of cliques to go over:

The first group is The Dread Three, the famous group composed of Bane, Bhaal, and Myrkul. These three were the most organised of the Malevolents during The Descension, and tried to have others rally behind them, to mixed success.

Next is The Gods of Fury, also known as the Forces of Nature, or Nature's Furies, which consists of Talos, Umberlee, Auril, and Malar. These gods are united by representing the wrath of nature, compared to its bounty given by Chauntea and Silvanus. Fun detail about this group is that during the First Divine War, they actually fought on the side of the good-aligned Architects, not the Malevolents, whilst during The Descension they formed their own little thing that was only really trying to screw over Silvanus (their archenemy).

And that's the lot. I'll figure out as we go if any of the gods will factor into the campaign more later on, but at least that's a list of them all down for future reference (and hey, if anyone dies and wants to make a pious character, I can direct them to these lists).

[displacer-beasts]

Malar the Beastlord

A little history lesson between Linden and Imoen.

Also I love that Myrkul, Bane, and Bhaal took Jergal's power... by playing games.

[writer59january13]

Ongepatshket torqued skewed reflection

drawn courtesy lots of byte size chalk.

When e'er I summon fat chance

to empower me self with courage

and steal a passing glance

in the mirror then instantaneously

hairline fractures appear than 'afore long

snap, crackle, pop

becomes crystal clear,

whence aluminium glass mirror

(made of a float glass

incorporating additional processes)

leaves highly reflective

fractured surface patina 'ere

one narcissistic blackened barbed ken

whiles away countless hours

unseeingly preening, primping, and pruning

e'en the slightest glare

ring blemish finds cause

for cosmetic surgery (namely liposuction)

evincing ghostly interlinear crows feet and dark

circular "bags" that distinctly leer, which medical term for skin folds

and ballotable skin edema described as “festoon,”

or “malar mound,”

an eye sore overclear

demanding grotesque immediate

dermatological action (if necessary) taking

extra adipose tissue from rear

end supposed extra junk in the trunk,

where moon a fish scent derrière,

would not be unduly sore, perhaps requiring

(whatever would suture self)

plus donning extra padded underwear,

which subjugation voluntarily

"going under the knife,"

would stave off depredations aging

(such as puffy eyes) at least for another year.

Until the end date regarding

mine cessation, damnation,

glorification -ha time on Earth (hammered into crucifix

courtesy nine inch – rusty - nails) my changed body morphology particularly around equatorial girth unwanted layers of flab allow, enable,

and provide me to burn wicked fat

these cold winter days and nights

serving yours truly as built in hearth.

Incremental corporeal essence, here

to forge i.e. figurative spear tire of mine, doth elicit despair

daily appall, thus I air

part tickle laurel lei objection

able bane, cuz this tear rubble flabbiness a glare ring anatomical feature, I swear

shape shifted into a dare ring ridge hubble unsightly bulge ballooning mere

lee (just south of Montana) so clear lee obscuring belly button – an innie , where former washboard abdomen veer

hilly subsumed by displeasing scare really hated love handles glare ring paunches noticeable, especially when abdomen bare adduce, deed hoos, and

reed hoos sing the culprit bing one or more beneficial pharmacological prescription medications

eliminating debilitating crippling panic attacks, albeit re: fashioning now alien metabolism, but necessary medications giving immeasurable hun bull heaving relief to this generally

autobiographical, comical, ecological,

grammatical, illogical, kinematical,

methodical, (parenthetical), rhetorical,

theoretical, vertical and

xylographical off the old block exhibiting joyus rapture, where psychological state contra dancing,

jitterbugging (a slight bit of hyperbole,

where I tango with) kickstarting long overdue ability to experience living social shorn of paralyzing anxiety, yes every now and again isolated heated flare ups making stellar cameo appearance, asper rendering literal "NON FAKE" pennilessness,

and non seek quit tore ring excessive (no pun hush meant intended - heavy handed) perspiration, but generally "speaking" quieting reductio ad absurdum unbearable woebegone raging against the machine adrenaline hellishly riotous smiting body electric non verbally remonstrating condemning indescribable torturing

poisoning relentlessly (like stinging scorpions) upending many prime decades vice wrenching yoking ambivalence kamikaze

nose diving worthlessness toward total mortal re: suicidal bombing mission.

[comicwaren]

From Star Wars: Return of the Jedi - Jabba’s Palace #001, “The Four Favors”

Art by Alessandro Miracolo and Dee Cunniffe

Written by Marc Guggenheim

[sybaritick]

I had to cut quite a lot of them because polls are tragically limited to 12 options, so I excluded anyone evil or race-specific, and then just removed some of the more minor deities until I had 12 so this is by no means a definitive list. i'm sorry Waukeen enjoyers (including me) i suppose i'll have to be a Gondian instead for now

[y-rhywbeth2]

On the one hand I can see that Bhaal would have a hard time spinning God of Death as a popular thing: people generally don't want themselves or their loved ones to die, you've got a very limited selection of worshippers here. He drew the short straw and had an uphill battle gathering worshippers and establishing himself as a religion in society.

On the other hand I still feel like he could've taken himself much further if he hadn't just narrowed the entire portfolio of death down to 'murder,' 'assassins' and violent vigilantism. You need a useful avenue to be a mainstream god (unless you're Bane). Executioner is a legal employment avenue you could've exploited! And what about non-humanoid deaths? Malar already tackled hunting, but there are more options than that that he won't touch. What, are the likes of farmers, loggers, pest controllers, and butchers too boring for you, m'lord?

But noooo that doesn't fit his master assassin shit, he has to be an edgelord.

[of-sanguine-eyes]

Relentless live-read, from chapter 21 through 23, and we are at the 75% mark! 

However, three quarters of the way through, and I’m just tired of this. All the monk stuff in chapter 21 was supposed to awe me, and yet it just bored me. Because it’s the same sort of overly detailed, overpowered fight that has been in multiple scenes already, and while I tolerate the overly detailed and implausible sword fights, all the monk special abilities are presented with a slavishly loving tone, an arm-twist to be awed by this because monks are special. Which makes me dig in my heels and go “no, I don’t care what the Player Handbook or Epic Levels says, monks are comically overpowered and I’m not interested.” I’m not interested in characters who don’t have to struggle, against physical opponents or against inner struggles. Monks should have the latter, at the least, and yet, through all this book, Sneeze-Monk-Afaf-something never stubs his toe, physically or on inner doubts. I know it’s the Eastern Martial Arts Movie influences, but it strips away the last bit of someone who was at least a mildly interesting character in previous books. Now he’s just a monk-shaped default-painted mini being used to dart over the battlefield, but with less personality. 

Meanwhile, we have Catti-Bri risking the baby she’s spent the entire book fawning over - not wrong for advanced pregnancy, except that too, was her only defining feature and her only defining desire - to learn that one does not negotiate with a volcano, even one being caused by a {squints at notes} Primordial Elemental with an absurd name. Volcanologists are shocked. The baby is magically fine after her Designated Pang of Worry. As Yvonnel The Younger saves her. And this is clearly not a trap.

I would be a lot happier with Zak’s scenes, except for the nagging sense that the real, extra-narrative reason he was brought back was so that the author could still provide Elaborate Sword Fight Scenes, as a chunk of his readers seem to enjoy, while continuing to shove Drizzt into the Monk class (because Monks are Teh Bestest, just ask Reddit!) Meanwhile, I won’t protest too strongly that after all these past sequences showing Zak’s skill at tactics and swords in particular, he’s somehow overwhelmed by demons and needs saving. These are demons, after all. Which drow are fond of summoning. 

Maybe there’s just a great big Idiot Ball bouncing around and various characters happen to catch it. 

I would also be a lot happier if we all remember that illithids are bad. Yes even in the perspective of one who aligns more closely with them. There are ways of showing Kimmy’s fawning over the hive-mind, without glorifying it. And it doesn’t involve Psionics Save The Day! Again! I hate the Psionics Save The Day! twist every single time he uses it, because he’s started to use it every single book, in some fashion or another. 

And I would be so, very much happier if the author hadn’t included that “a bit of Lolth was inside every rational being.” Let’s take a step back for a minute, shall we? Yes, we’re in Kimmy’s perspective, and as a drow, even a vaguely agnostic one, he will consider Lolth and only Lolth as far as gods go. But even with that, the narrative is too overarching, too certain that this applies not just for drow - and really, when has the author used any gods other than Lolth and Mieliiki (and Ilmatar, if he needs a throw-away name for monk reasons)?

There is some truth in it, in that there can be considered to be a spark of chaos and evil in everyone. But that spark itself is not Lolth, not as the Realms define things (or, to quote Han Solo: “That’s not how [that] works! that’s not how any of that works!”) That spark could attract Lolth, but it is not itself Lolth. It’s a minor difference, but one that’s important when you have an actual pantheon of gods; that spark could just as well attract, I don’t know, Cyric. Or Bane. Or fucking Malar. And for humans, is more likely to. Lolth is not the only source of evil and chaos in the Realms - she is the Spider Queen, but she is one of many Not Good Gods jockeying for position. 

Or she should be. Instead these books reduce her to the sole evil of the world, and that’s (basically) true for drow, but it’s not true for the Realms as a whole. And so that certain statement rings very, very false, even with the kernel of “true enough” buried in it. 

And statements like that, sweeping away or dropping a veil over parts of the wider Realms world (don’t even get me started on where the fuck Eilistraee is), make this very, very long to slog through. Its more as though these concepts are present in name only, those names being slapped on the concepts the author wants to use. But these concepts have meanings beyond just these books, and not seeing those concepts well-represented - or represented at all - make it harder and harder to enjoy the series, much less the book.

And is anyone going to actually seek out the answer to the whole “who brought Zaknafein back and why” or are we just ignoring that for another few books?

[gkarter]

Bane Malar. #BaneMalar #actionfigurecloseup #upcloseandpersonal #save375 #fightfortvc #backtvc #118af https://www.instagram.com/p/CFFJvVoARdj/?igshid=1hnvcrdrdngoa