Of course I am not saying a bad experience, nay, a horrible experience in the case of Aerie, would turn everyone into Irenicus... but it is generally true that the most optimistic and altruistic (and naive) people are typically those who have had a pretty easy life. Hardship and injustices robs people of their innocence and forces them to become guarded at the very least. Thus why I think Aerie is pretty special if she was real.
Of course I am not saying a bad experience, nay, a horrible experience in the case of Aerie, would turn everyone into Irenicus... but it is generally true that the most optimistic and altruistic (and naive) people are typically those who have had a pretty easy life. Hardship and injustices robs people of their innocence and forces them to become guarded at the very least. Thus why I think Aerie is pretty special if she was real.
There is no need of a bad experience to be turned evil. You can become evil just to destroy other evil. Like in the Elric saga they used Stormbringer and Mournblade to kill the Dead Gods.
Of course I am not saying a bad experience, nay, a horrible experience in the case of Aerie, would turn everyone into Irenicus... but it is generally true that the most optimistic and altruistic (and naive) people are typically those who have had a pretty easy life. Hardship and injustices robs people of their innocence and forces them to become guarded at the very least. Thus why I think Aerie is pretty special if she was real.
I think part of that is her lacking any experience of the world outside the circus. She's pretty much an alien in the world, and so everything everyone else takes for granted is all new, exciting and sometimes frightening to her.
She does have some pent up anger I think; you see it slip out sometimes, like in the romance conflicts. She's just usually very good at redirecting it, so instead of being angry about something she'll do a chore or study or something. Obviously when she was in captivity she was just a little girl with no power; if she started getting mad at people then and picking a fight with the whole circus, she was definitely going to lose. So it's kind of a survival mechanism for her really not to get bitter or mad.
You have to sacrifice your gold to those bandits to avoid breaking Jaheira's event chains. You get the gold back once you've killed all of them.
Actually, if you offer to take the hit yourself, that keeps the romance viable. She's pissed at you, but in a "How could you risk yourself like that!?" kind of way.
I actually really kind of like the bandit scene. I still wouldn't imagine a romance with Jaheira happening without some kind of tension you can help her through. Taking the arrow for her shows charname is willing to stand up and protect her, and you care for her as a friend yet also won't give in to the bandit's demands because they are evil. It kind of reminds me of Tali's loyalty mission if you were to take out the renegade/paragon persuasion options. You are not really right either way if you had to make a choice there.
Her father did something bad that would give him a bad name in death, but he has also done so much good in his life and Tali demands that you not give the evidence forward and instead let her be exiled. On one end she is not be an exile but her father's reputation is ruined in death and he becomes like a monster to tell children of and Tali is upset and unloyal to you, on the other end she is exiled but her father's reputation is safe and she becomes loyal. Unloyal Tali also won't romance you just like mad because you didn't help Jaheira won't
Oh Tali...oh dear sweet, difficult and wonderful Tali...sigh.
I think that is the one part of not enjoying playing a straight male character, I start to feel sorry with all the stuff that side of the population endures from us, lol.
Just to be clear, I actually didn't mean anything negative about Aerie. Far from it, I have a weakness to very flawed characters who visibly develop a lot over a storyline. What I meant was more, as has been discussed, my charname back then (apparently an evil elven cleric...so that's why he was mean) reacted that way. Of course in Aerie's case you either get conditioned/ want to do good things. His experiences made him very bitter, short and hating of "weakness" in others. Sort of I guess like Korgan, only more passive aggressive - he didn't want Aerie to leave as she was useful. He just sort of hated to be reminded of his torture and losses. So each time Jaheria spoke of Khalid, it was like a dagger yet he could understand - as selfishly he knew Khalid so he was sympathetic. With Aerie...sadly she struck the wrong cords with him, and as he didn't like to think of them as having that in common (and stubbornly so) he rejected her. So ironically the bond he shared with Jaheria brought them closer, yet as Aerie reminded him too much of himself he pushed her away.
But yeah, fun times. Again my first, male character was just sort of a grumpy old elf long before his time.
Comments
Of course I am not saying a bad experience, nay, a horrible experience in the case of Aerie, would turn everyone into Irenicus... but it is generally true that the most optimistic and altruistic (and naive) people are typically those who have had a pretty easy life. Hardship and injustices robs people of their innocence and forces them to become guarded at the very least. Thus why I think Aerie is pretty special if she was real.
You can become evil just to destroy other evil.
Like in the Elric saga they used Stormbringer and Mournblade to kill the Dead Gods.
She does have some pent up anger I think; you see it slip out sometimes, like in the romance conflicts. She's just usually very good at redirecting it, so instead of being angry about something she'll do a chore or study or something. Obviously when she was in captivity she was just a little girl with no power; if she started getting mad at people then and picking a fight with the whole circus, she was definitely going to lose. So it's kind of a survival mechanism for her really not to get bitter or mad.
Oh Jaheira...
That reminds me of my ex... 'You have three options. They are all wrong and you need to apologise immediately!'
I think that is the one part of not enjoying playing a straight male character, I start to feel sorry with all the stuff that side of the population endures from us, lol.
Just to be clear, I actually didn't mean anything negative about Aerie. Far from it, I have a weakness to very flawed characters who visibly develop a lot over a storyline. What I meant was more, as has been discussed, my charname back then (apparently an evil elven cleric...so that's why he was mean) reacted that way. Of course in Aerie's case you either get conditioned/ want to do good things. His experiences made him very bitter, short and hating of "weakness" in others. Sort of I guess like Korgan, only more passive aggressive - he didn't want Aerie to leave as she was useful. He just sort of hated to be reminded of his torture and losses. So each time Jaheria spoke of Khalid, it was like a dagger yet he could understand - as selfishly he knew Khalid so he was sympathetic. With Aerie...sadly she struck the wrong cords with him, and as he didn't like to think of them as having that in common (and stubbornly so) he rejected her. So ironically the bond he shared with Jaheria brought them closer, yet as Aerie reminded him too much of himself he pushed her away.
But yeah, fun times. Again my first, male character was just sort of a grumpy old elf long before his time.