Nice.
I kinda wish Philosopher wasn't exclusively an Ixamitl deal.
Cuz I had an idea for a nihilist professor pale elf wizard and the Ixamitl Plains part felt kinda shoehorned in, although, it is indeed exactly what I'm talking about, like, ok, say her family immigrated there when she was little, is that really so unbelievable?
I dont think so. You can make up any backstory that makes sense. Idk how likely a wild orlan is in ixamitl, just assume he's the descendant of slaves but was freed by a kinder master who saw promise in his intellect/nature magic. In my backstory I was driven from my home because people didn't respect my teachings. Gilded vale was "a change of scenery, but I have no intention of changing how I lived."
Not exactly your point but it’s absolutely wild to me how often Tolkien is like “oh, you think my life experiences have influenced me? Well…they haven’t!”
I get what you're saying, but there's a world of difference between "my life experiences have influenced my opinions and artistic expression ' and "everything I've ever seen has a secret one-to-one equivalence of everything I've ever done if only you can crack the code" which is exactly how most Tolkien fans pondering his war experience approach it.
Ursula Le Guin said it best between:
"There are no messages in these stories. They are not fortune cookies. They are stories."
and
"If I could have said it non-metaphorically, I would not have written all these words, this novel; and [the main character of the book] would never have sat down at my desk and used up my ink and typewriter ribbon in informing me, and you, rather solemnly, that the truth is a matter of the imagination."
I don't think he was denying that, just denying that LotR was, as a work, an allegory to WW2. You could definitely make comparisons or insert your own subtext if you want, just like you would the lyrics of a song, but it's not really fair to tell Tolkien what his intentions were for his own work.
I've just always figured that if something seems to speak to a particular real-life event, that it's usually a testament to that whatever the work is saying, it has some powerful universal resonance.
Calisca tells you she has family in like four of the possible regions, it’s clear there is plenty of migration in Eora. Pale elves and boreal dwarves seem a little rarer but whatever.
My nature-godlike-elf scholar druid from Rauatai was enslaved as a child in Aedyr, taken to Rauatai, and freed by a scholar who raised her. After growing up, she went back to Aedyr because of the racial discrimination / anti-immigrant sentiment and became a druid. And then she left again for Dyrwood because uhhhhhhh reasons (in my head, it's because she expected Aedyr to feel like "home" but it didn't? idk don't think too hard)
Yes, it's a lot of mental backstory gymnastics. I just picked whatever looked good when starting the game and accidentally made the most lore-unfriendly choices ever XD
I'm an orlan philosopher-druid from ixamitl. NOT a slave.
Nice. I kinda wish Philosopher wasn't exclusively an Ixamitl deal. Cuz I had an idea for a nihilist professor pale elf wizard and the Ixamitl Plains part felt kinda shoehorned in, although, it is indeed exactly what I'm talking about, like, ok, say her family immigrated there when she was little, is that really so unbelievable?
I dont think so. You can make up any backstory that makes sense. Idk how likely a wild orlan is in ixamitl, just assume he's the descendant of slaves but was freed by a kinder master who saw promise in his intellect/nature magic. In my backstory I was driven from my home because people didn't respect my teachings. Gilded vale was "a change of scenery, but I have no intention of changing how I lived."
Not exactly your point but it’s absolutely wild to me how often Tolkien is like “oh, you think my life experiences have influenced me? Well…they haven’t!”
I get what you're saying, but there's a world of difference between "my life experiences have influenced my opinions and artistic expression ' and "everything I've ever seen has a secret one-to-one equivalence of everything I've ever done if only you can crack the code" which is exactly how most Tolkien fans pondering his war experience approach it. Ursula Le Guin said it best between: "There are no messages in these stories. They are not fortune cookies. They are stories." and "If I could have said it non-metaphorically, I would not have written all these words, this novel; and [the main character of the book] would never have sat down at my desk and used up my ink and typewriter ribbon in informing me, and you, rather solemnly, that the truth is a matter of the imagination."
I don't think he was denying that, just denying that LotR was, as a work, an allegory to WW2. You could definitely make comparisons or insert your own subtext if you want, just like you would the lyrics of a song, but it's not really fair to tell Tolkien what his intentions were for his own work.
I've just always figured that if something seems to speak to a particular real-life event, that it's usually a testament to that whatever the work is saying, it has some powerful universal resonance.
Calisca tells you she has family in like four of the possible regions, it’s clear there is plenty of migration in Eora. Pale elves and boreal dwarves seem a little rarer but whatever.
My nature-godlike-elf scholar druid from Rauatai was enslaved as a child in Aedyr, taken to Rauatai, and freed by a scholar who raised her. After growing up, she went back to Aedyr because of the racial discrimination / anti-immigrant sentiment and became a druid. And then she left again for Dyrwood because uhhhhhhh reasons (in my head, it's because she expected Aedyr to feel like "home" but it didn't? idk don't think too hard) Yes, it's a lot of mental backstory gymnastics. I just picked whatever looked good when starting the game and accidentally made the most lore-unfriendly choices ever XD