Great lyrics of course and a lot of us have been there, will go there or will know someone we care for who has, even if it’s fleetingly after disappointment or sadness.
But Xan, does he need Prozac? His moroseness seems to be more than a passing sense of sadness or disappointment. But as he stands, and with the way I played the mod, he makes sense to me. Someone with huge responsibilities, shy, reserved, used to standing on the outside and yet with a strong sense of belonging, of needing to do the right thing… and thus he meets <charname>, who has already been on the road when they meet, who has learned that danger is a part of normal existence but who as yet doesn’t know why, someone who is used to inspiring loyalty, so accustomed to it that she is beyond taking it for granted, it’s just a matter of life, a way to avoid death.
In the little world of zeros and ones that Xan calls home, his actions and thoughts make perfect sense. How could someone as beautiful and beguiling as <charname> be impressed by him? In BG1 he isn’t a fighter, just a rather low level wizard with a funny sword. The mod Xan takes the gloom and realises what it’s for, just layers of protection, a cocoon to view the world and protect Xan from disappointments and the inevitable damage he fears they will do to him. <charname> is completely the opposite: optimistic, unafraid, confrontational perhaps even brash. That romance doesn’t surprise me. Xan finds the ‘lost’ child in<charname>, the bit of her that is having to deal with things too awful to imagine, the bit of her that doesn’t use confidence and brashness and confrontation to get through each day. In Xan she sees that other more vulnerable side to herself and in acknowledging that causes him to become protector, to be part of risks because the alternative, to run away isn’t possible for him and his sense of duty. So he finds himself in a dilemma: stick to his lawful nature and abandon her or go along, knowing full well that it will inevitably mean that some sections of his own kind will not approve.
Kuylok has mentioned somewhere that Xan on the unbonded path behaved badly in SoA – yes he does but again it’s understandable and in ToB he faces up to the consequences of those actions without certainty of success. In other words the chant: ‘We’re all doomed’ and the constant harping on failure becomes a real possibility in ToB not just a refrain to stave off bad luck and appease the gods!
I don’t find any of Xan’s behaviour strange. And that's a credit to 'Xan - the mod' that the character in BG1 is built on, not totally changed. Xan’s nature unfolds and develops gradually. Xan at the end is still Xan at the beginning but wiser, more mature, more developed and nicer. Xan doesn’t need Prozac, he needs the confrontation with Sarevok and Irenicus – and luckily for him that’s just what he gets. So Prozac - no. BG2 is Xan's cure
Topic: Xan's Prozac Blues (Read 2239 times)
