For those Forgotten Realms D&D Buffs out there...

[Pennance]

Well I guess since the Villains are destined to lose in the end...


But yeah, Halaster! That guy is the Undermountain Man! Speaking of which, isn't Undermountain supposed to be in Throne of Bhaal?

[Memnoch]

Originally posted by Gargoyle: I forgot all about Halaster, untill memnoch mentioned him, still I think I'd put my bets on Elminster due to his Godly assistance !

Alassra is by far the most powerful of the Seven Sisters when it comes to spellcraft, but seeing as Elminster is Ed Greenwood’s alter ego, and Ed created the Forgotten Realms, and of course Ed would have to be the most uber-powerful character, I’d put my money on him.



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[Larry_OHF]

If I read it correctly, in one of his books (Shadow of the Avatar Trilogy), Elminster was asked on two occasions by Lord Ao to accept God-hood, after the original Mystra dies, and he turned it down.
Also, the first Mystra favored Elminster more than the latter, right? So I am betting that Elmisnter only has his age and experience backing him now, because this latter Mystra (Midnight), did not care too much for him as a teacher when she was still a mortal. I think Elminster does more on his own now, than he used to. And the attention from the Gods are equally shared through-out all the chosen. I just haven't se4n any recent proof that the latter Mystra is paying him more attention than anyone else. But that is just my perception. Feel free to disagree.

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Larry, a Loyal Guardian of the OHF

[Memnoch]

Originally posted by Larry_OHF: If I read it correctly, in one of his books (Shadow of the Avatar Trilogy), Elminster was asked on two occasions by Lord Ao to accept God-hood, after the original Mystra dies, and he turned it down.

You want to know what I REALLY think? I think that Ed was a bit peeved that he had very minimal (if any) literary input into the Avatar Trilogy (thank God) which was basically Jim Lowder's baby and which elevated Midnight to godhood that when he wrote the Shadow of The Avatar trilogy he HAD to save Elminster some face by showing that HE was invited to be a god TOO. Just my opinion, feel free to disagree.

Larry, you are right in that he seems to have withdrawn from the world a bit.

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[This message has been edited by Memnoch (edited 05-14-2001).]

[Pennance]

Again, I'd have to agree with Memnoch because Elminster is just plain ridiculous. If you ever read any of Greenwood's books (which suck in comparison to any others) the whole book is putting Elminster over as the most powerful character. What gets me is that he has no character flaws, so is pretty 2-Dimensional. Every great hero has his weaknesses, and it is a person's weaknesses that define him as a hero for it is to overcome these weaknesses that makes him a hero. Elminster is just a punk!

[Larry_OHF]

He has a weakness for women! (but don't we all...)
Here...I found the back-up for my claim that Elminster and the sisters are going down-hill. Check out what they mention about Khelben...it looks promising for us!Copied and pasted off of : http://www.defragsrealms.com/custom/frl_faqintro.html

So, what's the real scoop on Mystra's chosen? How can they stay sane for all those centuries? And why are they all goody-two-shoes? Here's what Ed Greenwood thinks: Mystra believes that the ultimate good comes from the proliferation of magic and its widespread use, being put into all hands, for good or for ill...so the Chosen are judged on how much they hurl magic around, give it to others, teach others, and work against tyrants-of-magic like the Zhents, not because the Zhents are "evil," but because they try to restrict control of magic to themselves, and not let potential foes have it. The Chosen who are Mystra's daughters also had (under the 'old' Mystra, their mother) a special status, which Elminster (her lover) also enjoyed...the new Mystra is changing things. Watch what we do in the years ahead with The Magister (I've turned in an FOR-style sourcebook on that office and what its holders do) and with Khelben, the most 'ungood' of "good" Chosen. It's wrong to see the Chosen as necessarily good...it's more accurate to see them as the veteran-killer-American-GI or Wild West gunslinger who does good, or fights for 'good,' but in doing so is twisted far from good him- or herself. Part of my writing goals have been to underscore the following things: "do-gooders" often do more harm than good, for the best of motives (Elaine's also been playing with this one); 'good' to one party is not 'good' to another (the old saying, "for one man to gain freedom, another must lose it"); and the best meddlers are those who can see farthest, not the brute-force-right-now brigade (which is what most PC parties of necessity are, and therefore their punishments/reward are immediate). One postscript I almost forgot: with Elminster in particular and all of the Chosen, Steven and I (at least) are delving into "how insane do you go from living so long with godly power and gods messing with your mind?" Everything El and the other Chosen do should be read in this light; they're NOT sane. I've been hinting at this for a long time, but you have to catch the hints (like the good/happy endings, this was a Code of Ethics thing, which is why we can't show villains poisoning, or succeeding, or telling you their detailed plans that someone in the real world might copy or claim as inspiration, etc.).

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Larry, a Loyal Guardian of the OHF

[Pennance]

Sp what he's saying is that they can't let Manshoon win because it might inspire others to go out and become Wizard Tyrants of Northern outposts...I hate having stuff ruined because others can use it as a scapegoat to explain their F'ed up behavior.

[jabidas]

elminster is just a masturbatory aid for greenwood and because hes such an omnipotent(read overbearing) twit nothing will ever change that in the forgotten realms the most interesting mage of all time was raistlin