[Tancred]

Oh, for the love of God... I've danced around it, but that was a stupid idea from the start; I'm going to make it plain. I don't care what rape is, I don't care how 'evil' everybody thinks Irenicus is, or what he is capable of. I was the first to offer criti - no, not criticism, just a friendly reminder to keep the bad guy as cool as he always was, and Galadria just mentions, almost as an afterthought, that he rapes Imoen while she is in his power.
I don't know whether this makes me a prude, or old-fashioned, or what;I have no qualms about the concept of a same-sex romance, but I do have very serious objections about the introduction of rape into the equation. To hell whether Irenicus did do it or not; it's you, Galadria, you who have formed the idea that he could, and you who has made him do so. Your actions make the world of Baldur's Gate a bit as unpleasant and disturbed as the world we all live in. I love the concept of high fantasy, because it's a realm within my mind; a wold of heroism, and brave deeds, and the darkest of plots, and the blackest of hearts, but it's innocent in an arthurian, classical way that I can only dream about; and it's where I go to forget the cares of the day. Just the mere suggestion that Irenicus - the old foe we have all squared off against, and that we all know so well - could have done something so unpleasantly REAL-LIFE as to rape someone taints everything irredemably, for me if not for anyone else. I ask you this; was there no other way to write a single-sex romance? Were you determined to include the suggestion of rape? Did you not think it would offend anyone? I know that whatever I say, whatever anyone says, it's ultimately up to you what you create, and I cannot stop or change any of it by my will alone; but I will not let you do so without some very serious objections from my quarter. You all know, at least, how one person stands.

[ 02-20-2002: Message edited by: Tancred ]