@ Weimer --
Boo guides Minsc's steps, but if you have Minsc in ToB I would hardly say that we're all subject to Boo's decisions.
Yes, but Minsc has an intelligence of 8 and wisdom of 6, whereas Solaufein’s is 18 and 10 respectively. Maybe intelligence is what makes a difference between them?
Solaufein is a major player, but still makes all of the important decisions.
Would I be correct then to assume that Solaufein asked Eilistraee to send him the child?
However, Solaufein is a dynamic figure who changes over time.
A “dynamic” figure, as you say, might seem to change over time, and change is what we think it be the case, but actually this is an illusionary interpretation [from our part] of a character and the events involving him/her. (Try to remember that we don’t talk about processes and systems in technical terms here, but about a man’s nature.) Even if these changes are foreseen and we anticipate them, usually they are rather minor than major ones. Why? Because in a Solaufein-like character, these changes consist part of his capacity for being improved and reaching the state of mental and emotional stability he longed for –for better or worse. It’s not about evolvement through time and “research”. It's about him finding the way to go where he always wanted to.
Side notes on Solaufein’s character: Do you recall my very first comments on Solaufein’s character? “He’s a cosmos”, I had said then, using the word in Whitmanean manner. What does this mean when applied to Solaufein? He is made of many things, everything finding its own place in him. Yet, and although he gives the (false) impression of him being shaped and evolved into something more final during his travels with pc, he is already a “fixed” character when we meet him.
“Right now my mind is filled with images of the malice of my misguided people. Perhaps I am overlooking some redeeming virtue of my home… something that will only become apparent after I leave. Perhaps not. Still, I am resolved. Would you allow me to accompany you?” Despite his doubts whether a redeeming virtue of his home does really exist or not, Solaufein is “resolved” to leave. For me it was crystal-clear that I had to do with the most strong-willed character ever met in Faerum. I will support my argument by calling you also to think of his life in Ust Natha: he remained there even after his relationship with Phaere had ended. He didn’t share other drows’ creeds on brutality and use of force, and he much preferred spending his time by reading poetry and philosophy and honouring Eilistraee. One comes to question why, then, he didn’t leave Ust Natha, and some might feel the urge to fill the blanks: “Because Solaufein is not so strong-willed, as you think. He was afraid of traveling to an unknown world.” Possibly. But for me it was his love for Phaere that kept him there. Remember: Later he will admit to pc that Phaere was his first love, and we all know (I presume) what first love means, and what a traumatic experience could mean to lose someone so beloved. The fact that he leaves right after Phaere’s death may be a proof of my theory standing closer to the truth. And he might had already left before her death, if Phaere’s order given to pc, to kill Solaufein that is, hadn’t hurt him so deeply. He replicated dragon’s eggs as part of a plan where Phaere would be killed by his own hands. Another evidence of determination and strong will. And, no, I wouldn’t agree with someone claiming revenge. (Later, of course, he feels a kind of remorse for what he has done, but this is another story.)
The Epilogue in ToB makes it clear that much time has passed before the child appears. In that amount of time some of the premises have changed: he no longer leads a life of constant danger, for example. He also has reason to believe that the child will not be instantly slain: someone with greater wisdom and sight (the big E) has said that now is not a bad time.
We are not talking about someone who, round his mid 20s, discovers his earlier beliefs to be false because life is proven different than he had though, or because the world around him/her has changed dramatically. We are talking about a mature, sensitive and logical, and intellectual person who seems rather sceptical and reserve to the world that surrounds him. But even if we accept the world has changed, and there is the presupposition for him to raise a family, please listen to him:
I ask because most adventurers eventually settle down to raise a family. Many initially struggle for glory and honor, only to belatedly discover that lasting happiness was never far from home and hearth. I am not such a person.I am not such a person. Whether you –as his creator—are aware of it, or not, Solaufein’s views on children and settlement are constructed round this very statement. It is not something that time can change; it is not even related to the trouble times over Faerum. It is a statement revealing and defining something that holds less relativity to the world around: an aspect of his character: he simply is not "
such a person".
Solaufein would never suggest that he and have a child just to have a conversation topic. Perhaps you are misremembering the quote?
I didn’t say Solaufein suggested, I said Lump suggested the children issue in order we, the players, be given more dialogues, which would be relative to the child issue.
Compton thinks he's just putting the moves on . The conversation is not a *complete* pretext.
It’s not just Jason’s Kelsey who thinks it so; it had also been one of my own suspicions during my first time playing the game, when I had Tashia in my party instead of Kelsey. Either way, it’s an opportunity to have the romance moved a bit forward.
I'm afraid that I have a different conception of what "romance" means. You don't need to dance or make love for something to be romantic. In my opinion.
Romantic can have various senses: The dance is as a romantic event in the same way Solaufein’s words are after receiving Eilistraee’s gift: these two scenes are so beautiful that strongly affect our feelings. However, I didn’t include the making of love amongst them, did I?
Again, this is a difference of opinion. In my experience, "stable respect" is much more important for a long-term relationship (= conviction) than "fleeting infatuation".
By all means! I wouldn’t agree more. BUT you are not a novel writer, and you don’t have the luxury of describing Solaufein’s feelings in one or two long paragraphs. It’s a game, and you have to rely only on his dialogues in order to convince us that Solaufein and pc have reached a certain state of intimacy. Sometimes making love can mean …making love.
Perhaps you would be so kind as to suggest some romantic lines or dialogues? I'll be happy to add them if I think they're IC for Sola.
I’m not sure I could. Solaufein is your own creation, realised by your creeds, your ideas, your perception of the world and relationships, meaning that no one but you can do it. I can tell you, however, that if you are going to create some new conversations on the death issue, you could consider also the possibility of questioning whether one can really feel another person’s pain. Think of the cliché people use when they see a beloved one suffering or dying: “I wish I could die in his/her place” or, “If only I could take his/her pains and make them mine.” We wish we could, but we can’t. Each one is on his/her own. This makes us think that, from the moment we are born to the moment we die, our passage to life is just a personal and lonely experience. We are alone, and the fact that it was neither our choice nor can we interfere and change it consists a tragic element in our life. Ironically, it is this loneliness of our existence lying deep inside that verifies the uniqueness each one of us.
P.S. All these I'm writing on Solaufein's character are certainly my personal opinion and they don't form any kind of universal truth. Thanks for reading.
Cheers