Suejak
Jive mutha
Registered: Mar
2002
Location: The top of the mountain, looking down. And
laughing. |
"...but none more
dangerous than yourself in your full glory."
How could
that possibly apply to his previous incarnations? When TNO is
at his full glory, aren't the other incarnations, as well?
After all, they do merge with him -- they help to bring
him to his full glory. TNO becomes ALL of them by the end of
the game, but he tips the alignment scales depending on the
type of TNO that the player created. Right? Of course, I
suppose the same argument could apply for TTO, in that light.
At TNO's full glory, he is also TTO, and that therefore
invalidates both sides. Hmmm.
BTW, it seems to me that
TTO would be integral to achieving the "full glory" of TNO.
TTO is incomplete without TNO and vice versa. They were not
meant to be separated, and neither is at his "full glory"
without the other.
I suppose that it could also mean
that none of the "shades" are more dangerous than TNO has
shown himself capable of being in previous incarnations. As
in, Ravel, Trias, and TTO are powerful, but not more powerful
than TNO was once, and can be again.
Or, from the
perspective of the "shades" being the incarnations, maybe it
means "dangerous to TTO" -- none of the previous incarnations
are as dangerous as the player's incarnation to TTO, or as the
player's incarnation will eventually be.
However,
Ravel, Trias, and TTO are all invariably "enemies". Ravel
loves TNO so much that she fights him to keep him from
leaving. Trias, also, is ready to smite TNO for attempting to
reverse his judgement of Curst. TTO, obviously, wants to knock
away TNO's memories so as to keep himself alive.
The
incarnations, on the other hand, are not all hostile, and are
hardly all enemies. If the player made a good TNO, for
instance, the good incarnation is very helpful and friendly (I
can't speak for any other player alignments). The good
incarnation isn't an enemy at all, as he doesn't oppose
him in any way. In fact, he's very agreeable about the whole
thing.
Back to TTO's neutrality, the problem with the
term "neutrality" in AD&D is that it's really hard to
define. I've never really been sure how true neutral
characters are supposed to interact, or what they're supposed
to be looking out for. Really, it seems that they should be
looking to keep ultimate balance in the world, or complete
indifference to everything. If you must turn away, to some
degree, from your original alignment in order to classify as a
"shade", then it would seem somewhat difficult to markedly
"turn away" from neutrality. However...
Many of
Torment's actual "torments" are about base, grass-roots
contradictions, and someone or something going against their
nature. Since TTO was originally TNO's mortality, he was
obviously completely neutral. It's rather hard to argue
against that. Now, however, he has a drive -- a goal. TTO is a
great big contradiction in that he is someone's
mortality given physical presence; someone's
mortality with a driving goal. Something that was once
insubstantial and incapable of alignment, thus neutral by
default, has been given a place in the physical world -- or as
close as he can get to it -- thus making him a "shade of
neutrality" in the same sense that Ravel and Trias are shades
of their respective "natural" alignments. He was once
incapable of being anything but completely neutral, and he has
now been forced to develop a physical presence and strength to
achieve his goal of remaining a separate entity. He is no
longer stagnant and neutral, as he must interact as his own
distinct being, thus violating his original nature and making
him a "shade" of what he was.
Despite being of an evil
planar race from an evil plane, Ravel commits good acts
brought about by evil -- she made TNO immortal and did it out
of intense love for him, thus birthing his torment -- a
clearly selfish act. She then sacrifices herself for his sake.
Although she brought him about because of her own selfishness
and her driving force was thus "evil", driving that was
a deep, unending love, which she finally gave in to by
willingly sacrificing herself for his sake. She is still evil,
but her love has altered her so greatly that she is willing to
be the ultimate altruist for TNO's sake -- she's a shade of
evil; a tainted evil.
Despite being of a good, lawful
planar race from a good, lawful plane, Trias commits evil,
spiteful acts under the semi-facade of a semi-legit zealous
pursuit of law and "goodness". He despises Curst so deeply and
has been wronged so greatly by its citizens that he damns the
whole thing, plunging it into Carceri. On the one hand, he is
punishing "evil" for its cruelty and indifference -- giving
those he labels evil what he feels they have brought upon
themselves -- but has the underlying motive of spiteful, petty
revenge. He has noble roots and voices a noble cause, but yet
has been corrupted to the point that he manipulates his noble
cause to achieve his own ends. He speaks of rebuking evil, but
is also satisfying his own drive for vengeance. His "good"
cause manipulated and spun out of control into an "evil" which
he doesn't fully realize he's committing, but is committing at
full force nonetheless, he is thus a shade of good; a tainted
good.
Likewise, TTO is a tainted neutral.
/never-ending babbling.
__________________
Like TNT I'm dynamite
see
I'll rock your body til the early light
POINT OF VIEW
Torment NPCs >> COAXMETAL
Deus Ex NPCs >> The Police
Boat
Last edited by
Suejak on 04-15-2002 at 06:06 AM
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04-15-2002 12:09 AM
Oh well.
I love this kind of
discussion!
